Statelessness Working Paper Series No. 2017/08 1. Introduction and background Nationality is the closest legal tie between a natural person and a state. Stateless individuals lack this bond. Their legal condition renders them excluded from society; they are denied their most basic human rights. The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines a stateless individual as a “person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law”.1 In Europe, about 600,000 individuals are stateless.2 Due to the hidden nature of the phenomenon, this number is only an estimate, and the context of it is quite complex. Europe has seen frequent border changes throughout its recent history. The dissolution of the socialist federations of Eastern Europe in the past few decades have rendered a high number of people stateless. Additionally, there is a large Roma minority scattered across the countries of Europe, and statelessness among the Roma population is a long-standing issue.3 The abovementioned persons are stateless in their ‘own country’, and are referred to as in situ stateless. The other context statelessness manifests itself is migration. A staggering 1.2 million people arrived in Europe in 2015 and in the beginning of 2016. During this time, according to the Institute of Statelessness and Inclusion, approximately 3% of asylum applicants faced nationality problems.4 The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention) grants an essential set of rights to the individuals under its scope. However, it is not a self-executing treaty.5 In practice, States Parties are required to implement national legislation establishing their own statelessnessspecific protection mechanisms, regulating the statelessness determination procedure and the specificities of the protection status. A statelessness determination procedure (SDP) serves to examine whether an individual is indeed stateless, id est not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law. If the SDP results in the individual being identified as stateless, it is then clear that he shall be granted the rights envisaged in the 1954 Convention.6 The 1954 Convention does not contain provisions that regulate the statelessness determination procedure, however, the UNHCR Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons contains the most important guidelines.7 Worldwide, there are 89 States 1 Article 1, Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, New York, 28 September 1954, in force 6 June 1960, 360 UNTS 117. 2 Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, ‘The World’s Stateless 2017’, available at: http://www.worldsstateless.org/continents/europe/stateless-persons-in-europe [accessed 18 February 2017] 3 Maylis de Verneuil, ‘Nationality: Romani; Citizenship: European’ (2016), Statelessness Working Paper Series No. 2016/03, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, p. 5. 4 Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, ‘The World’s Stateless 2017’, available at: http://www.worldsstateless.org/continents/europe/stateless-persons-in-europe [accessed 18 February 2017] 5 Tamás Molnár, ‘Stateless Persons under International Law and EU Law: a Comparative Analysis Concerning their Legal Status, with Particular Attention to the Added Value of the EU Legal Order’ (2010), Acta Juridica Hungarica 51, No. 4, p. 296. 6 It is important to note that the positive outcome of the SDP does not constitute the individual’s right to benefit from the protection status; it is only of declarative nature, explicitly recognising the applicant as stateless. Source: Gábor Gyulai, ‘The determination of statelessness and the establishment of a statelessness-specific protection regime’ in: Alice Edwards and Laura van Waas (eds.), Statelessness and Nationality in International Law (2014), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 132. 7 UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons (30 June 2014), available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/53b676aa4.html [accessed 27 March 2017] 5