procedure in all cantons.” 16 Bearing in mind the indivisibility of all human rights, the Committee also encouraged Switzerland to ratify the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.17 Snapshot of Statelessness in Switzerland 12. Article 1.1 of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines a stateless person as someone “who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law.” According to the numbers provided by the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) for May 2022, 751 persons were registered as stateless, 280 as ‘without nationality’ and 1,144 as ‘state unknown’ in that year. 18 In May 2021, the numbers were similar with 677 persons registered as stateless, 241 as ‘without nationality’ and 1,125 as ‘state unknown’.19 These numbers include stateless persons or persons of unknown origin who have been recognised as refugees and granted asylum.20 The Federal Statistical Office released different statistics for 2020 with 540 persons recognised as stateless and 1,924 as ‘no indication’.21 There is no data on the number of applications for recognition of statelessness nor on the approval rates. 13. The category defined by the SEM in the statistics as ‘stateless’ only includes persons who have officially been recognised by the Swiss authorities as stateless. 22 The Swiss authorities also use the categories ‘without nationality’ and ‘state unknown’, the precise definitions of which are not known, but which may include stateless persons who have not had their statelessness recognised or who face barriers in doing so, as well as persons who are at risk of statelessness. 14. The various statistical data provided by different Federal authorities, as well as the vagueness of the categories used, illustrate that the real scale of statelessness in Switzerland is unclear. According to a 2018 UNHCR mapping of statelessness in Switzerland, the actual number of stateless persons or persons at risk of statelessness is likely to be higher than indicated by the data provided by the Federal authorities. 23 Stateless persons living in Switzerland with irregular residence status are not reflected in the official statistics.24 16 Ibid. Ibid. para. 19. 18 State Secretariat for Migration, ‘Statistics May 2022’, available at: https://www.sem.admin.ch/dam/sem/de/data/publiservice/statistik/auslaenderstatistik/2022/05/2-10-Best-Tot-Kat-d-202205.xlsx.download.xlsx/2-10-Best-Tot-Kat-d-2022-05.xlsx. 19 State Secretariat for Migration, ‘Statistics May 2021’, available at: https://www.sem.admin.ch/dam/sem/de/data/publiservice/statistik/auslaenderstatistik/2021/05/2-10-Best-Tot-Kat-d-202105.xlsx.download.xlsx/2-10-Best-Tot-Kat-d-2021-05.xlsx. 20 Ibid; State Secretariat for Migration, ‘Statistics May 2022’, available at: https://www.sem.admin.ch/dam/sem/de/data/publiservice/statistik/auslaenderstatistik/2022/05/2-30-Best-Flue-Kat-d-202205.xlsx.download.xlsx/2-30-Best-Flue-Kat-d-2022-05.xlsx. 21 Federal Statistical Office, ‘Statistics on Foreign permanent resident population by citizenship’, (1980-2020), available at: https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/de/home/statistiken/bevoelkerung/migration-integration/auslaendischebevoelkerung.assetdetail.18344247.html. According to the SEM, the difference can be explained by the fact that two authorities use different sources as well as different definitions. 22 The SEM does not publish the definitions on which the categorizations and the statistics are based. Neither does the Federal Statistical Office. 23 UNHCR, ‘Summary and recommendations: Statelessness in Switzerland’, (November 2018), available at: https://www.unhcr.org/dach/wp-content/uploads/sites/27/2019/04/CH_UNHCR-Statelessness_in_Switz-Summary-ENGscreen.pdf. 24 There is no data on the number of stateless persons or persons at risk of statelessness among migrants who are undocumented or have irregular residence status in Switzerland. However, it must be assumed that there are stateless persons as well as persons at risk of statelessness among the roughly 76,000 migrants with irregular residence status in Switzerland. The most recent comprehensive study on ‘sans papiers’ in Switzerland is silent on the issue of statelessness, see Michael Morlok 17 4