stateless on account of residence abroad. Article 7(4) contains an exception to the prohibition of Article 7(3) as it allows loss of nationality by naturalized citizens on account of residence abroad of at least seven consecutive years. Article 7(4) is the only provision of the Convention which allows for differential treatment of naturalized citizens as compared to citizens by birth. According to Section 15 of the Act on Swedish Citizenship, a person who wishes to renounce his or her Swedish nationality can be released from that nationality upon application. Release from the citizenship shall be granted if the person does not have a lawful residence in Sweden, and may be denied to a person who is lawfully residing in Sweden only if special grounds exist. In accordance with the Government Bill on the Act on Swedish Citizenship, such special grounds may arise in a situation where the person, through release of Swedish nationality, would gain undue benefits from the Swedish State; this could, for example, be the case when a person suspected of a crime would make his or her extradition to Sweden difficult or impossible by renouncing the Swedish nationality. If an applicant for renunciation is not already a national of another country, the release is conditional on the person’s acquisition of citizenship of another country within a certain period of time. This provision means that a person cannot be released from his or her Swedish nationality if that would render the person stateless. Section 15 therefore contains a safeguard against statelessness in the case of renunciation, in line with Article 7 of the 1961 Convention. Section 9 of the Act on Swedish Citizenship contains a provision on the re-acquisition of nationality through application in cases where persons have lost or been released from their Swedish nationality, if the person has turned 18 years, has a permanent residence permit in Sweden, has been a lawful resident in Sweden for a total of ten years, and been lawfully and habitually residing in Sweden for the past two years. 4.3.3 Reduction of statelessness 4.3.3.1 NATURALIZATION Article 32 of the 1954 Convention provides that “The Contracting States shall as far as possible facilitate the assimilation and naturalization of stateless persons. They shall in particular make every effort to expedite naturalization proceedings and to reduce as far as possible the charges and costs of such proceedings.” One of the main purposes of the Government Bill on A Citizenship Based on Affinity,233 which was published in March 2014, was to strengthen the role and value of Swedish citizenship in the integration process. The Bill refers to citizenship as a symbolic expression of belonging and ties with Sweden,234 and introduces an obligation on every municipality in Sweden to, at least once per year, organize a citizenship ceremony for all inhabitants who have newly acquired citizenship. Naturalization of stateless persons is provided for in Sections 11, 12 and 13 of the Act on Swedish Citizenship, and complements the aforementioned modes of acquisition for children, set out in Sections 6 and 7, and for young adults between 18 and 21 years, set out in Section 8 of the Act on Swedish Citizenship. According to Section 11, a person can be granted Swedish nationality on application if he or she has established his or her identity and has turned 18 years of age. It is required that the person has a permanent residence permit in Sweden and that the person has been lawfully and habitually residing (hemvist)235 in 233 Regeringens Proposition (2013/14: 143) Ett medborgarskap som grundas på samhörighet, available at: https://goo.gl/AW31Gg. 234 Ibid., p. 9 for example provides, in Swedish “Medborgarskapet är viktigt för känslan av delaktighet i det som händer i samhället och för känslan av gemenskap med andra i Sverige. Det är ett viktigt steg i integrationsprocessen att nya svenska medborgare upplever att de är en del av den svenska gemenskapen.” 235 The term “hemvist” in the context of the nationality legislation means habitual residence in Sweden with the intention to remain in the longer term. It does not require registration in the Population Register or a minimum number of years of residence, though the residence must be lawful. The focus is on the intention to stay in Sweden. See Proposition (1997/98: 178) Medborgarskap och identitet, p. 9, MIG 2008: 17 and MIG 2013: 22. UNHCR STOCKHOLM, 2016 69