9. The specific right to a nationality and/or protection of stateless persons is further reinforced by a variety of these instruments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, Article 24), the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (Article 9), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, Article 7) to which the Netherlands is a Party. The Netherlands has furthermore ratified the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention), the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961 Convention) and the European Convention on Nationality (ECN), all of which oblige States Parties to take certain measures to protect persons who are stateless or at risk of statelessness. 10. The Netherlands has additional international and regional obligations to protect the liberty and security of all persons and to protect against arbitrary and unlawful detention. These obligations derive from the ICCPR (Article 9), the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR, Article 5), the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union (Article 6) and the European Union (EU) Returns Directive (Article 15), all of which protect the right to liberty and security of the person and freedom from arbitrary detention. Importantly, Article 26 of the 1954 Convention additionally requires States to permit stateless persons “lawfully in” their territory to choose their place of residence and move freely within the State.7 Statelessness in the Netherlands 11. The government of the Netherlands estimates there are 4,000-5,000 stateless persons in the country, whereas UNHCR estimates the number to be around 10,000.8 There are also more than 80,000 individuals whose nationality is deemed ‘unknown’ currently registered in the Netherlands.9 As this submission points out, these statistics misrepresent the likely real number of stateless persons in the Netherlands. While an unidentified number of stateless persons (or people at risk of statelessness) may be hidden within the figure of persons with ‘unknown nationality’, the majority are immigrants who were undocumented at the time of registration with their municipality. At the same time, it must be emphasised that efforts to pin down exact numbers of stateless persons are frustrated by the current absence of a dedicated determination mechanism (although its establishment was announced in September 2014). It is possible to be recorded as ‘stateless’ in the population register which is administered by the municipalities, but this is only open to stateless persons who are legally residing in the country and who have documentary evidence to prove their stateless status beyond doubt. The requirement of legal stay and the substantial burden of proof likely cause a large number of stateless (and at risk) individuals to go unidentified. Without formal determination of their status, they may experience substantial difficulties in accessing rights accorded to them under the Statelessness Conventions. Furthermore, the lack of accurate statistical data is a matter of concern because failure 7 In line with UNHCR observations the drafting history of the 1954 Convention affirms that persons who have applied to remain in a country based on their statelessness are ‘lawfully in’ that country. UNHCR, Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons (30 June 2014, ‘UNHCR Statelessness Handbook’), para 135. Available at http://www.refworld.org/docid/53b676aa4.html. 8 Government information about statelessness [Rijksoverheid], available at https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/nederlandse-nationaliteit/inhoud/staatloosheid. Both of these estimates were recently featured in the newspaper Trouw: Hans Marijnissen, Aantal staatlozen in Nederland groeit [Number of stateless persons in the Netherlands is growing], 14 September 2016. Available at http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/39681/nbsp/article/detail/4376168/2016/09/14/Aantal-staatlozen-in-Nederlandgroeit.dhtml. 9 Ibid.