9. In 2017, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Mr. Dainius Pūras, noted on his visit to Croatia that, by 2016, about 2,800 Roma were still without permanent or temporary residence and at risk of statelessness.5 National Law 10. Croatian nationality is regulated by the Croatian Citizenship Act of 1991.6 This Act does not provide any specific rights, such as facilitated naturalisation, to stateless persons based on their statelessness. Rather, it considers stateless persons on the same basis as third country nationals. 11. A new amendment to the Croatian Citizenship Act will come into force in October 2019. Positively, Article 5 para 2, introduces a provision stating that a child born abroad will acquire Croatian nationality if one parent is, at the time of birth, a Croatian citizen, and the child would otherwise be stateless. The amendment also prescribes that a stateless person is exempt from providing proof of renunciation of foreign nationality in order to acquire Croatian nationality. 12. The Croatian Foreigner’s Act7, in its Article 2 para 1 item 2, defines a stateless person as ‘a foreigner who is not considered as a national of any State under the operation of its law’, which is in line with the definition contained in Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons. The Act also provides for a travel document for stateless persons in Article 2 para 1 item 8. The Act refers explicitly to stateless persons only four times, in the definition and in the context of travel documents. It does not set out a procedure for the identification and determination of statelessness. 13. In terms of other relevant national law, the Constitution of Croatia8 states that stateless persons may access shelter in the Republic of Croatia, but neither the Act on Free Legal Aid9 nor the Act on Obligatory Health Insurance and Protection of Foreigners provide for access to legal aid or healthcare for stateless persons. The Act on International and Temporary Protection 10 mentions stateless persons in the context of the right to international protection, asylum or subsidiary protection. 4 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health on his visit to Croatia, A/HRC/35/21/Add.2. para 106. 5 Foreigner’s Act: https://www.zakon.hr/z/142/Zakon-o-strancima (Official Gazette 130/11, 74/13, 69/17, 46/18). 6 Croatian Citizenship Act: https://www.zakon.hr/z/446/Zakon-o-hrvatskom-dr%C5%BEavljanstvu (Official Gazette 110/15). Available in English at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5ac3799f4.html 7 Foreigner’s Act: https://www.zakon.hr/z/142/Zakon-o-strancima (Official Gazette 130/11, 74/13, 69/17, 46/18). 8 Constitution of Croatia: https://www.zakon.hr/z/94/Ustav-Republike-Hrvatske (Official Gazette 05/14). 9 Act on Free Legal Aid: https://www.zakon.hr/z/286/Zakon-o-besplatnoj-pravnoj-pomo%C4%87i (Official Gazette 143/13) 10 Act on International Protection and Temporary Protection: https://www.zakon.hr/z/798/Zakon-ome%C4%91unarodnoj-i-privremenoj-za%C5%A1titi (Official Gazette 127/17) 3