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consensus on the acceptance of dual citizenship in national legal orders
− without having to surrender or possess one of them.
Another task would be to conduct reliable statistical research in
cooperation with the governments of all countries (as in the case of refugees) to gain real knowledge of the scale of the problem, which today
− with about 10 million stateless persons in the world − seems not to
match reality, because countries with probably significant numbers of
stateless persons (such as India or China) do not provide official statistics on this group of people.36 Only a reliable, trustworthy assessment of
the scale of statelessness will allow legal regulations to be redefi ned at
the international level, which will have a direct and indirect impact on
the situation of stateless persons.
In addition, the procedural framework for de facto stateless persons
should be harmonised. To protect them, if in their country of origin they
fear that their security may be threatened (including the rule of non-refoulement in customary international law), then a uniform standard of
treatment should be introduced, eg in the form of a residence permit (in
accordance with the provisions of the CRSSP). Obtaining an appropriate
status would be a prerequisite for being granted adequate legal protection. However, if there are no concerns about the threat to the security of
de facto stateless person, then, on account of the citizenship possessed,
it would be desirable to regulate legal return to the country of origin, because in this way the person would gain the protection of his or her own
government and would cease to be treated as someone on the margins of
the host society.
The latest activities of the international community aimed at reducing statelessness include a campaign launched by UNHCR in 2014 to
eradicate statelessness by 2024. It sets out a guiding framework made
up of 10 Actions that need to be taken to end statelessness within 10 years.37 The activities focus especially on preventing statelessness among
children, preventing discrimination in nationality laws, and accession
to the CRSSP and CSP. Although not all the Actions are required in all
countries, probably at the moment of preparing the Action Plan, no mass
migration amounting to millions was expected from Middle Eastern and
African countries. The Global Action Plan to End Statelessness in 10
years may prove impossible in the current situation; nonetheless, countries should strive to achieve as many of the planned targets as possible.
36
Lily Chen, Petra Nahmias and Sebastian Steinmueller, ‘Statistical Reporting on Statelessness’ (2019) 1 UNHCR Statistics Technical Series 1.
37
UNHCR, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness: 2014-2024 available at <www.unhcr.
org/ibelong/global-action-plan-2014-2024/> accessed 23 May 2020.