Reduction of Statelessness2 (1961 Convention), as well as other relevant international and regional standards on statelessness in Norwegian law and policy. In analyzing current Norwegian approaches to statelessness, particular attention has been given to whether and to what extent Norwegian law and policy provide for the following ways of addressing statelessness: prevention of statelessness, identification and protection of stateless persons, and reduction of statelessness. 1.1 Executive summary Norway is party to the major international and regional treaties relevant to the prevention and reduction of statelessness and the protection of stateless persons. Although Norwegian legislation does not contain express references to provisions in the two major statelessness conventions, through the “principle of presumption” (presumsjonsprinsippet) and the sector monism provisions found in the Immigration and Nationality Acts, the 1954 and 1961 Conventions are incorporated into Norwegian law and thus enforceable under domestic law where there is a conflict. Nonetheless, because the provisions of the Conventions have not been expressly adopted by domestic legislation, important gaps in the actual implementation of the standards remain. Norwegian legislation contains no definition of a stateless person. Notably, however, Norwegian authorities report that they use the 1954 Convention’s Article 1 definition, now customary international law. At the same time, Article 16 of the Norwegian Nationality Act impermissibly seeks to limit the scope of the definition of a stateless person by stating that a person will not be deemed stateless if, by his or her own act or omission, such person has chosen to be stateless, or if the person can in a simple way become a national of another country. Norway does not have a dedicated statelessness determination procedure. In Norway, stateless persons are most often encountered by the authorities in asylum and other immigration procedures. Nationality or statelessness is registered as part of the identity assessment made during the asylum or other immigration process, but unified guidelines for assessing and registering someone as stateless are lacking. The absence of a determination procedure poses problems for the identification and protection of stateless persons in Norway. There is no recognized stateless status and likewise no legislative standards for the protection of stateless persons. Apart from a greatly reduced required period of residence prior to naturalization – for which they must have an independent ground – stateless persons in Norway have no freestanding rights based on their statelessness. Of particular concern is the absence of specific safeguards to prevent statelessness of persons born in Norway. Available statistics on the stateless population in Norway are somewhat limited. While the Aliens Register and the Central Population Register record the nationality or statelessness of persons born in or residing in the country, the lack of a statelessness determination procedure appears to have contributed to inaccuracies in the registration of statelessness, as well as consequential imperfections in the statistics. For example, some people are recorded as nationals of states which they were born, though they are in fact not nationals. Importantly, current Norwegian law has quite strong safeguards against statelessness with regard to persons born to Norwegian citizens abroad; foundlings; and loss, renunciation, and deprivation of Norwegian nationality. Some of these protections are very strong and indeed overcompliant with international standards. NGOs working on questions related to the rights of immigrants in Norway are generally unaware of the particular challenges stateless persons may face. While some NGOs have been engaged with statelessness, it has generally been in the context of asylum and refugee issues. Though substantial, these efforts have not propelled statelessness into widespread recognition as a critical human rights issue in Norway. 2 8 UN General Assembly, Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 30 August 1961, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 989, p. 175, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b39620.html. M A P P I N G STAT E L E S S N E S S I N N O RWAY