“lawfully in,”85 “lawfully staying in,”86 or “habitually resident” in a territory.87 Other provisions, however, are
applicable to any individual concerned who is either subject to the jurisdiction of a State Party or present in
its territory.
Those rights in the 1954 Convention which are triggered when an individual is subject to the jurisdiction
of a State Party include personal status (Article 12), property (Article 13), access to courts (Article 16(1)),
rationing (Article 20), public education (Article 22), administrative assistance (Article 25) and facilitated
naturalization (Article 32). Additional rights that accrue to individuals when they are physically present in a
State Party’s territory are freedom of religion (Article 4) and the right to identity papers (Article 27).88
Additionally, the vast majority of human rights apply to all persons on a State’s territory or subject to its
jurisdiction irrespective of nationality or immigration status, including to stateless persons. Moreover, the
principle of equality and non-discrimination generally prohibits any discrimination based on the lack of
nationality status. International human rights law thus supplements the protection regime set out in the
1954 Convention. Whilst a number of provisions of international human rights law replicate rights found
in the 1954 Convention, others provide for a higher standard of treatment or for rights not found in the
Convention at all.89 Examples of important human rights standards in this area are found in the CEDAW,
which provides that States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men to acquire, change or retain their
nationality, while the CRC and the ICCPR both provide for the right of every child to acquire a nationality.
The following sections examine the existing administrative procedures within which statelessness may be
identified in Sweden and the rights that may be granted to stateless persons based on their immigration
status and residence permit received, comparing them to the standards set forth by the 1954 Convention,
primarily.
3.2 National legal framework
As mentioned in Section 2.1, Sweden acceded to the 1954 Convention on 2 April 1965,90 with a number
of reservations.91 While both the Act on Swedish Citizenship92 and the Decree on Swedish Citizenship93
contain references to statelessness and stateless persons, neither of them contain a definition of who is to
be classified as a “stateless person”; in other words, the definition of a stateless person set out in Article 1(1)
of the 1954 Convention has not been transformed into Swedish law. The Government Bill on the Act on
32
85
For a discussion of the “lawfully in” rights, see UNHCR, Handbook, para. 134.
86
See UNHCR, Handbook, para. 137, noting, “The ‘lawfully staying’ requirement envisages a greater duration of presence in a
territory. This need not, however, take the form of permanent residence. Shorter periods of stay authorized by the State may
suffice so long as they are not transient visits. Stateless persons who have been granted a residence permit would fall within this
category. It also covers individuals who have temporary permission to stay if this is for more than a few months. By contrast, a
visitor admitted for a brief period would not be ‘lawfully staying.’ Individuals recognized as stateless following a determination
procedure but to whom no residence permit has been issued will generally be ‘lawfully staying’ in a State party by virtue of the
length of time already spent in the country awaiting a determination.” See also Laura van Waas, Nationality Matters: Statelessness
under International Law, Intersentia, 2008, pp. 325-327.
87
For a comprehensive discussion on the proper interpretation of these terms, see UNHCR Handbook, paras. 147-152 (inter
alia, making specific recommendations as to the granting of a residence permit; noting that the recognition of an individual
as stateless “triggers the ‘lawfully staying’ rights”; discussing “habitual residence”), paras. 136-139 (discussing the “lawfully
staying” rights as well as “habitually resident” provisions).
88
Ibid., para. 133.
89
Ibid. paras. 140-141. Also, for an overview see UNHCR, Extracts relating to nationality and statelessness from selected universal and
regional human rights instruments, November 2009, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4c29aec02.html.
90
SÖ 1965: 54.
91
See http://goo.gl/vXzFaE.
92
Lag (2001: 82) om svenskt medborgarskap, available in Swedish at: http://goo.gl/DISA6r, and in English at: http://goo.gl/UHaVWa.
93
Medborgarskapsförordning (2001: 218), available at: http://goo.gl/HS6Gz7.
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