2.1 International obligations Article 1 of the 1954 Convention defines a ‘stateless person’ as a ‘person who is not considered a national by any state under the operation of its law’.8 As well as establishing the universal definition of a ‘stateless person’, the 1954 Convention provides a core set of principles for the protection of stateless people.9 Austria ratified the 1954 Convention in 2008 and was one of the first five states to ratify the 1961 Convention in 1972. In 2011, on the 50 th anniversary of the 1961 Convention, Austria promised to review and reassess the implementation of its international obligations on the protection of stateless people and prevention of statelessness.10 Nevertheless, Austria maintains significant reservations to both the 1954 and 1961 Conventions. Reservations to two articles in the 1954 Convention have the effect of limiting access to travel documents and ‘alien passports’ (Fremdenpässe) only to those stateless persons who are residing lawfully in the country.11 Austria is also one of only seven states to hold a regressive reservation to the 1961 Convention that allows it to retain ‘disloyalty’ and ‘conduct seriously prejudicial to the interests of the state’ as grounds for deprivation of nationality, even if it means that an individual will be left stateless.12 Such reservations undoubtedly provide less protection and rights to stateless people in Austria than envisioned in the convention, and reconsideration of these would be opportune, as there is little justification for limiting the rights and protection of stateless people in Austria today. In addition to the core statelessness conventions, Austria is also party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1976 (ICCPR), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination 1965, the Convention on the Elimination of All Form of Discrimination against Women 1979 (CEDAW), the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees 1951 (Refugee Convention), the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 2008 (CRPD), and, most significantly for the focus of this report, the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 (CRC). 8 Article 1 (1) UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons 1954 9 UNHCR, “Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons” (30 June 2014), p. 1 10 UNHCR, “Mapping Statelessness in Austria” (January 2017), p. 11 11 Articles 27 and 28 of the 1954 Convention 12 UNHCR, “Mapping Statelessness in Austria” (January 2017), p. 77 06 | No child should be stateless in Austria In 2011, the key CRC principles were adopted in national law by the Austrian Constitutional Act (Bundes-Verfassungsgesetz [B-VG]) and the Austrian Constitutional Act on the Rights of the Child (Bundesverfassungsgesetz über die Rechte der Kinder [BVG Child Rights]). Of particular significance, the ‘child welfare priority principle’, underlined in Article 1 of the BVG Child Rights, is an important benchmark in Austrian legislation, policy and practice. At a regional level, Austria is signatory to a range of legal instruments, which provide protections to stateless people, including the European Convention on Nationality 1997 (ECN), the Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession 2009, the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 1953 (ECHR) and the European Social Charter 1961. 2.2 National legislative framework On a domestic level, the Austrian Nationality Act 1985 (Staatsbürgerschaftsgesetz [StbG]) regulates the acquisition and loss of Austrian nationality. Other key sources regulating Austrian nationality are the Asylum Act 2005 (Asylgesetz [AsylG]), the Aliens Police Act 2005 (Fremdenpolizeigesetz [FPG]), the Austrian Settlement and Residence Act 2005 (Niederlassungs – und Aufenthaltsgesetz [NAG]) as well as case law from the Higher Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgerichtshof [VwGH]) and the Constitutional Court (Verfassungsgerichtshof [VfGH]). Several regulations must also be considered by the authorities during any legal procedure. These include the Administrative Procedure Act (Allgemeine Verwaltungsverfahrensgesetz [AVG]), Administrative Penalty Act (Verwaltungsstrafgesetz [VStG]), and Administrative Enforcement Act (Verwaltungsvollstreckungsgesetz [VVG]). An applicant may bring forward an appeal to the Regional Administrative Court (Landesverwaltungsgericht [VwG]), and a regular or extraordinary second appeal (ordentliche/außerordentliche