in limited population data on statelessness as a comprehensive mapping of the stateless population in Malta is difficult.14 13. There is no ‘stateless’ category in the census. The census in 2011 and 2021 provided limited opportunity for respondents to self-identify as ‘stateless’. According to the 2021 census report, there are 171 stateless people in Malta. The data is disaggregated by residence, gender, and age. The National Statistics Office Annual Demographic Review has included a 'stateless' category since 2008 in its data on acquisition of Maltese nationality. From 2008-2010, 24 stateless individuals are reported to have obtained Maltese nationality. In 2014, 1 stateless person and 5 people with ‘unspecified’ nationality acquired Maltese nationality. The International Protection Agency (formerly the Office of the Refugee Commissioner) reported that, in 2022, 1 asylum-seeker selfidentified as stateless whilst 32 asylum applications were filed by Palestinians. UNHCR conducted a mapping study in 2014, which provides a detailed commentary on the legislative framework on statelessness in Malta, including examples of different profiles of stateless people and those at risk of statelessness in the country. 14. The Government does not publish data on stateless people in detention or systematically record statelessness across agencies, and it does not routinely publish statistics on immigration detention. The Immigration Police collects some data on individuals released from immigration detention who could not be removed, but they do not publish this. 15. These statistics do not provide an accurate or reliable overview of Malta’s stateless population. The indications are that the stateless population in Malta may be underreported due the fact that there is very limited data, the data collection methods are poor, and there is no mechanism in place to identify and determine statelessness. Issue 2 - Statelessness determination and access to rights 16. Identifying stateless people in the country is the first step to providing adequate protection and rights enshrined in the 1954 Convention. Although the 1954 Convention does not specifically provide for how statelessness should be determined, UNHCR guidance has confirmed that this is best fulfilled through a dedicated statelessness determination procedure with the necessary safeguards and procedural guarantees. 15 According to international norms and standards, statelessness determination procedures should lead to a dedicated protection status, including a residence permit, access to economic, social, civil, and political rights, the right to administrative assistance, exemption from requirements stateless people cannot meet because they are stateless, and other rights protected by the 1954 Convention. States should also establish a facilitated route to naturalisation so stateless people can acquire a nationality and resolve their statelessness.16 14 See UNHCR, Mapping Statelessness in Malta (2014), p. 46-48. UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, 2014: http://www.unhcr.org/uk/protection/statelessness/53b698ab9/handbook-protection-stateless-persons.html. See also European Court of Human Rights, Hoti v. Croatia (application no. 42321/15), 26 July 2018, holding that a State has a positive obligation to provide an effective and accessible procedure enabling applicants to have their issues of further stay and status determined, paragraph 32. 16 Statelessness Index, Statelessness Determination and Protection in Europe: Good Practice, Challenges, and Risks, 2021: https://index.statelessness.eu/sites/default/files/ENS-Statelessness_determination_and_protection_in_EuropeSep_2021_0.pdf. 15 4