the Council of State is possible in a “cassation procedure.”490 Important changes to the appeals system were implemented in 2014 after cases before the Constitutional Court and European Court of Human Rights found certain aspects of the appeals procedures to be deficient.491 In the case of a final negative decision, an order to leave the territory is issued. If the decision is confirmed by the Council for Alien Disputes, prior to issuance of an order to leave, the person is invited to a return center and encouraged to leave voluntarily. These centers are open (residents are free to come and go), and no residents should be removed prior to the issuance of an order to leave.492 If an order to leave has been issued and the person does not leave within the set time period, he or she “may be forcibly deported.”493 6. Protection under the Statelessness Conventions Belgium is a party to the 1954 Stateless Persons Convention494 and acceded to the 1961 Statelessness Convention on 1 July 2014.495 There is no specific procedure in Belgian law to apply for recognition as a stateless person. However, stateless persons seeking recognition of their status can file “a unilateral petition with the Court of First Instance” for their place of residence. The applicant bears the burden of proving that he or she is stateless. Stateless persons have no right of temporary residence while an application with the Court of First Instance is pending. If recognized as a stateless person, the person must seek to regularize their immigration status through a further application to the relevant government ministry. The Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons can issue a certificate acknowledging statelessness, and may be able to issue other documents such as birth, marriage, or death certificates that would normally be issued by the country of nationality.496 Once recognized as such, stateless persons enjoy the same benefits as third-country nationals in Belgium, which includes permanent residence, social support, work authorization and entitlement to family reunification. Increasing numbers of Palestinians have been granted protection under the 1954 Stateless Persons Convention in recent years. 497 490 Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, “Asylum.” Ruben Wissing, National Country Report: Belgium, 10. 492 Fedasil, “Reception of Asylum Seekers.” 493 Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, “After the Procedure Stay or Departure,” accessed November 18, 2014, http://www.cgra.be/en/Apres_la_procedure/ Sejour_ou_depart/. 494 UNTC, “Status of Treaties: Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.” 495 UNTC, “Status of Treaties: Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.” 496 Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons, “Vulnerable Groups Stateless Persons,” accessed November 18, 2014, http://www.cgra.be/en/Groupes_vulnerables/ Apatrides/. 497 BADIL, Closing Protection Gaps: A Handbook on Protection of Palestinian Refugees in States Signatories to the 1951 Refugee Convention, 347. 491 Survey of Protection at the National Level 101