the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the CRC, CEDAW and in Europe the ECHR, enumerate certain rights relevant to the protection of stateless persons. The 1954 Convention foresees that stateless persons who are “lawfully in” a State party (in French “se trouvant régulièrement”), are entitled to, inter alia, protection from expulsion (Article 31).112 For stateless persons to be “lawfully in” a State party, their presence in the country needs to be authorized by the State. The concept encompasses both presence which is explicitly sanctioned and also that which is known and not prohibited, taking into account all personal circumstances of the individual. The duration of presence can be temporary. This interpretation of the terms of the 1954 Convention is in line with its object and purpose, which is to assure the widest possible exercise by stateless persons of the rights contained therein. As confirmed by the drafting history of the Convention, applicants for statelessness status who enter a determination procedure are therefore “lawfully in” the territory of a State party. By contrast, an individual who has no immigration status in the country and declines the opportunity to enter a statelessness determination procedure is not “lawfully in” the country.113 3.2 National legal framework References to statelessness can be found in the Norwegian Nationality Act, although neither this Act, nor the Immigration Act, contains a definition of a stateless person. As discussed in Chapter 2.1.2 of this report, both acts do, however, contain provisions incorporating international law in general, which would include the definition contained in the Convention.114 Notably, Article 16 of the Norwegian Nationality Act states that a person who by his or her own act or omission has chosen to be stateless, or who in a simple way can become a national of another country, is not deemed to be stateless. This language is in contravention of Article 1 of the 1954 Convention, which asks only whether someone is considered as a national of any state. An individual’s nationality is to be assessed as of the time of the determination. It is neither a historic nor a predictive exercise. The question to be answered is whether, at the point of making an Article 1(1) determination, an individual is a national of the country or countries in question.115 Likewise, with regard to the determination of a person’s statelessness, the 1954 Convention does not inquire into the causes of an individual’s statelessness, specifically whether the individual may have played a role in his or her statelessness. Article 1(1) looks only at whether a person is considered as a national, not whether his or her statelessness may have been voluntary. UDI reports that it does indeed use the 1954 Convention’s Article 1 definition of a “stateless person.” However, there is no distinct statelessness determination procedure in Norway allowing for the systematic identification of stateless persons. Importantly, UDI’s procedures are set forth in circulars,116 which are guidelines to UDI staff on numerous things, including the assessment of a person’s nationality. The governing standard of proof is that of the preponderance of evidence. UDI reports that its working methods cannot be easily compared to the methods of NR, which are discussed in more detail below.117 Although NR’s methods are different from UDI’s, it also reportedly uses the Article 1 definition of a stateless person. Thus, although Article 16 of the Nationality Act redefines a stateless person in a manner incompatible with the 1954 Convention, in practice, Norwegian authorities appear to apply the proper definition. 112 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, para 134. 113 Ibid, para 136. 114 See the Immigration Act Article 3 and the Nationality Act Article 3. 115 UNHCR Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, para. 50. 116 See generally UDI circular RS 2012-009, available from: https://www.udiregelverk.no/no/rettskilder/udi-rundskriv/rs-2012-009/. 117 Interview with UDI dated 20 August 2012. See also NR’s guidelines in Skattedirektoratet – Rettsavdelingen, Håndbok i folkeregistering (2011). UNHCR STOCKHOLM, OCTOBER 2015 29