Briefing on the right to a nationality of children born to Palestinian parents in Belgium February 2024 reach the age of 18, that they possess a foreign nationality. The provision is automatic in law, but in practice it must be proven that the conditions and requirements imposed by the law are met, and the burden of proof lies on the applicant. 5 Recent practice towards children born to Palestinian parents Since August 2023, the Immigration Office has exchanged correspondence with several municipalities in Belgium to withdraw the Belgian nationality of children born in Belgium to Palestinian parents, who had acquired this under Article 10 BNC.6 Their rationale is that these children have Palestinian nationality, and the Immigration Office is concerned that if granted Belgian nationality, so-called ‘abuses’ of the family reunification procedure could take place. According to a spokesperson for the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, “The Immigration Office regularly notes that Palestinians in the European Union go to Belgium to have children there in order to acquire Belgian citizenship and, consequently, to benefit from family reunification […] [We will] fight against practices where people who do not have the right to do so try to possess Belgian nationality”.7 We have serious concerns that the position of the Immigration Office is an incorrect interpretation of the international customary law definition of a stateless person, is contrary to the letter and spirit of international law, and will risk increasing statelessness in Belgium. This move will unnecessarily leave more children in limbo, unable to access their right to a nationality and exposed to the detrimental impacts of growing up stateless. The correspondence sent by the Immigration Office appears to violate the right of every child to acquire and retain a nationality under Article 7 CRC8 and to act with the best interests of the child as a primary consideration (Article 3 CRC,9 and Article 24(2) of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights).10 It is never in the child’s best interests to be left stateless. The practice also violates Belgium’s international obligations to prevent statelessness, and the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality. 11 In addition, since December 2022, the civil registrar of the child's municipality of residence is no longer competent to rule on the application of Article 10 BNC. Assuming it is established that these children have a nationality other than Belgian, only the civil registrar of their place of birth could consider reversing the previous 5 European Network on Statelessness, ‘Statelessness Index: Belgium’ (last updated in February 2023) <https://index.statelessness.eu/country/belgium> 6 For more information, see The Brussels Times, “Municipalities ordered to strip Palestinian children of Belgian nationality” (The Brussels Times, 11 December 2023) <https://www.brusselstimes.com/829066/municipalities-ordered-to-strippalestinian-children-of-belgian-nationality>; Julien Wolsey, ‘Palestine : nos autorités face à leurs responsabilités’ in Association pour le droit des étrangers, Lettre d’information juridique n°201 (November 2023) < https://www.adde.be/images/2023/Newsletter_novembre2023.pdf> 7 The Brussels Times, “Municipalities ordered to strip Palestinian children of Belgian nationality” (The Brussels Times, 11 December 2023) <https://www.brusselstimes.com/829066/municipalities-ordered-to-strip-palestinian-children-of-belgiannationality> 8 Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted 20 November 1989, entered into force 2 September 1990) 1577 U.N.T.S., article 7 <https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/ProfessionalInterest/crc.pdf> 9 Ibid, art 3. 10 Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (26 October 2012) 2012/C 326/02, article 24(2) <https://eurlex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:12012P/TXT>. Furthermore, with reference to the Fransson principle, it may be argued that an EU Member State does act under the scope of EU law when the acquisition of EU citizenship is at stake, see European Council on Refugees and Exiles, ‘The Right to a Nationality of Refugee Children Born in the EU and the Relevance of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights’ (February 2017), pg. 8 <https://helsinki.hu/wpcontent/uploads/refugee-children-nationality-LEAP-leaflet.pdf> 11 Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, ‘Principles On Deprivation of Nationality as a National Security Measure’ (June 2021) <https://files.institutesi.org/PRINCIPLES.pdf>. According to Principle 2.2.1., ��[d]eprivation of nationality refers to any loss, withdrawal or denial of nationality that was not voluntarily requested by the individual. This includes where a State precludes a person or group from obtaining or retaining a nationality, where nationality is automatically lost by operation of the law, and where acts taken by administrative authorities result in a person being deprived of a nationality’.