Briefing on the right to a nationality of children born to Palestinian parents in Belgium February 2024 Palestinians cannot be considered nationals of Palestine when assessing or determining their statelessness. Palestinians should be considered stateless for the purposes of the 1961 Convention and the 1954 Convention, unless and/or until they can be considered nationals of an independent, sovereign state, which has a nationality law. As such, ENS is concerned that the actions of the Belgian Immigration Office in not recognising that children of Palestinian parents are otherwise stateless, amount to a violation of international law. ENS therefore recommends that: • • • Palestinian children born in Belgium who do not possess any other nationality should be granted Belgian nationality automatically at birth, in compliance with the Belgian Nationality Code and with Belgium’s obligations under the 1961 Convention, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other international human rights instruments. Belgian authorities must conduct a careful and thorough assessment, in accordance with the law and all international obligations, of whether deprivation of nationality of children of Palestinian parents is arbitrary, and whether the deprivation would result in statelessness. If statelessness would result from the deprivation, the 1961 Convention imposes strict circumscriptions on when this deprivation is permissible, as do other well-established standards of international law such as the avoidance of statelessness, the prohibition of discrimination, and the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of nationality. Any process of revocation or loss of nationality should follow due process and should respect the internationally affirmed rights of the individual to a fair hearing and trial, remedy, and reparation. For more detailed legal analysis and context on the status of Palestinians as stateless persons and their right to protection in Europe, see ENS and BADIL Resource Center’s report21 and advocacy briefing22 on Palestinians and the search for protection as refugees and stateless persons in Europe. The European Network on Statelessness (ENS) is a civil society alliance of organisations and individuals working to promote the right to a nationality in Europe. Our network brings together over 180 members in more than 40 countries and includes grassroots community organisations, national and international NGOs, legal advice agencies, think tanks, individuals with lived experience of statelessness, and other experts. We are dedicated to raising awareness about statelessness and the right to a nationality, supporting legal and policy development, and building civil society’s capacity to act. 21 BADIL Resource Center on Palestinian Residency and Refugee rights (BADIL) and European Network on Statelessness (ENS), ‘Palestinians and the Search for Protection as Refugees and Stateless Persons’ (2022), <https://www.statelessness.eu/updates/publications/palestinians-and-search-protection-refugees-and-stateless-persons> 22 ENS and BADIL, ‘Briefing: Palestinians and the search for protection as refugees and stateless persons in Europe’ (European Network on Statelessness, 14 July 2022) <https://www.statelessness.eu/updates/publications/briefingpalestinians-and-search-protection-refugees-and-stateless-persons>