36 1 PROTECTING STATELESS PERSONS FROM ARBITRARY DETENTION 5. CHECKLISTS 5.1 THE ADVOCACY CHECKLIST This checklist is a resource for advocates pushing for law and policy reform and better practice related to the immigration detention of stateless persons in their country. 99 Has your country acceded to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness? 99 Has your country acceded to the core UN Human Rights Treaties and their optional protocols, in particular, the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment? 99 Does your country have a statelessness determination procedure? If yes, does the procedure comply with UNHCR Guidelines? 99 Are stateless persons, and those at risk of statelessness subjected to a statelessness determination procedure as part of the decision making processes to remove and/or to detain? 99 Is immigration detention only resorted to as a last resort, after all alternatives to detention have been exhausted? 99 Does your country have a strong alternatives to detention programme, with a wide range of options to meet the vulnerabilities and needs of different groups? 99 Is immigration detention used for purposes other than those allowed under Article 5(1)(f) of the ECHR? 99 Is there a maximum time period for immigration detention? What is it? 99 Are those subject to immigration detention entitled to substantive and procedural due process rights? In particular, is detention ordered by a judicial authority, is the detention order given in writing, with grounds for detention clearly given, does the individual have the right to appeal and review the decision to detain and benefit from legal aid? 99 Does your country have rules in place that govern the process of re-documentation and/or ascertain entitlement to nationality, for the purposes of removal? Do these roles articulate the respective roles that the state and individual are expected to play? Are the time limits for such processes clearly set out? 99 Are all detainees provided with information on their rights and entitlements, contact details of organisations which can assist them, and other bodies who can assist them in challenging the legality of their detention and the conditions of their detention? Does such information include guidance on how a detainee may access a dedicated statelessness determination procedure? 99 Are individual vulnerability assessments carried out before detention and regularly during detention? 99 Are children ever detained in your country? 99 Are the conditions of detention centres in keeping with international standards and with the non-punitive nature of immigration detention? 99 Are immigration detention centres regularly monitored by independent authorities and do detainees have regular contact with family, their lawyers, NGOs, UNHCR, their religious representatives etc.? 99 Does your country pursue removal with due diligence, and are those who are deemed to be not removable within a reasonable period of time (and in accordance with international human rights standards) released without delay? 99 Are released detainees provided with a legal status and basic rights, including the right to work and receive social welfare? 99 Does your country re-detain former detainees? If yes, is their previous time in detention taken into consideration when calculating the maximum period of detention?