11 | PROTECTING STATELESS PERSONS FROM ARBITRARY DETENTION IN BULGARIA 2. LAW AND POLICY CONTEXT 2.1 INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL OBLIGATIONS PERTAINING TO STATELESSNESS AND DETENTION Having a nationality is an inalienable right enshrined in Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.11 Similarly, the right of liberty and security of the person, and to be protected from arbitrary detention and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are widely recognised principles of international law. These rights are reinforced by several human rights treaties, to which Bulgaria is a state party, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights12, the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR which gives the Human Rights Committee competence to consider individual communications alleging violations of the rights set forth in the ICCPR,13 the Convention Against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment14 and its Optional Protocol (OP-CAT),15 the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,16 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.17 Bulgaria has not yet signed the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and Their Families. Bulgaria is also party to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms18 and the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.19 The CPT has carried out ten visits to Bulgaria since 1995. In its Public Statement Concerning Bulgaria, published on 26 March 2015, the CPT noted that “[i]n the course of the Committee’s visits to Bulgaria in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2015, the CPT’s delegations witnessed a lack of decisive action by the authorities leading to a steady deterioration in the situation of persons deprived of their liberty.”20 It is noteworthy that according to the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria international treaties that it is party to have primacy over national law provisions that contradict them. Article 5, paragraph 4 of the Constitution stipulates: International treaties that have been ratified according to the constitutionally established procedure, that are promulgated and that have entered into force for the Republic of Bulgaria are part of the domestic law of the country. They take precedence over domestic legislation that contradicts them.”21 The Republic of Bulgaria ratified the Statelessness Conventions of 1954 and 1961 by law promulgated in the State Gazette No.11 of 7 February 2012. The 1954 Convention provides the international definition of a ‘stateless person’, and a set of rights for recognised stateless individuals and obligations for their protection. The latter treaty includes provisions on the prevention and reduction of statelessness. It should also be noted, however, that the ratification was done by Bulgaria with a wide range of reservations that are likely to undermine