2019, not a single stateless person managed to obtain a permanent residence permit in Hungary.89 Research by the HHC found that between 2011 and 2015 only 38 stateless persons could naturalise as Hungarian nationals. 90 Only 33% of stateless persons applying for naturalisation were granted Hungarian nationality, compared to 57% of other applicants with no Hungarian ancestry.91 This suggests that naturalisation is not facilitated for stateless persons in Hungary, but is in fact rendered more difficult, contrary to Hungary’s 1954 Convention obligations and its obligations to ensure everyone’s right to a nationality. Recommendations 46. Based on the above information, the co-submitting organisations urge reviewing States to make the following recommendations to Hungary: I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. IX. Ensure full compliance with Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by providing for the automatic granting of nationality to all children born in Hungary who would otherwise be stateless, regardless of their domicile or any other factor. Amend its legislation to ensure that acquisition of Hungarian nationality through declaration takes place without age restriction, or at least until the 21st birthday of the applicant. Remove the requirement for parents to have a domicile at the time of a child’s birth and for the child to have domicile for at least five years, and take all necessary measures to ensure full compliance with the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ensure that recognised stateless persons have unrestricted access to the labour market, healthcare, and social security. Extend the validity of residence permits granted to stateless people after the first three years, to further three-year periods. Ensure that stateless persons have a clear and facilitated pathway to acquiring a nationality, including by automatically establishing domicile and receiving a residence permit upon recognition of their statelessness. Introduce procedural safeguards in the legal framework relating to acquisition of Hungarian nationality, including by ensuring transparency in (facilitated) naturalisation procedures, that grounds for rejection are provided in writing, and applicants have a right of appeal. Improve data collection on stateless persons and those at risk of statelessness in Hungary, with a particular emphasis on children born in Hungary, and publish reliable disaggregated data on the stateless population in the country. Withdraw reservations to the European Convention on Nationality. 89 Responses by the National Directorate-General for Alien Policing of 16 January 2020, 17 January 2020 and 2 February 2020, to a freedom of information request submitted by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. 90 Gábor Gyulai, The Black Box of Nationality – The naturalisation of refugees and stateless persons in Hungary, Hungarian Helsinki Committee, 2016: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5792070a4.html. 91 Persons of Hungarian ancestry can apply for ‘simplified naturalisation’, under a different legal regime and significantly facilitated conditions. 14