15. UNHCR makes the following key recommendations resulting from the research:
(i) To ensure the Netherlands is able to meet its international obligations under the 1954
Convention and human rights law, it should establish an accessible and efficient
procedure to determine statelessness, with decisions being taken by a centralized,
designated and independent authority.
(ii) To improve registration and identification by municipal authorities the label “nationality
unknown” should not be so readily attributed upon registration in the GBA without
further examination. Such registration should be amended as necessary following any
subsequent determination of status. Statistics should be recorded and maintained in
the GBA in a transparent manner that reflects the actual stateless population in the
Netherlands and incorporates data by age, gender and country of birth and origin.
(iii) To ensure the early and correct identification of stateless persons and solutions for
situations where the State of purported nationality refuses to cooperate in return,
referral to a stateless determination procedure should take place as early as possible,
if the individual claims to be stateless or this comes to light during the no-fault
procedure. In such circumstances, he or she should be referred from this procedure
to the statelessness determination procedure.
(iv) During the statelessness determination procedure and/or during the no-fault
residence permit procedure, applicants should be issued an identity document and a
temporary residence permit. Recognition of statelessness should generally result in
the issuance of a residence permit. In some cases it may not be appropriate to do so,
for example, where a stateless person enjoys the right of residence in another State
and is able to return and live there with full respect for their human rights.
(v) Bearing in mind subsequent developments in international human rights law by which
the Netherlands is bound, the two reservations regarding Articles 8 and 26 made to
the 1954 Convention should be withdrawn.
(vi) In order to prevent statelessness in the Netherlands, the “legal stay” requirement
under Article 6(1)b of the Dutch Nationality Act providing for a right to apply for Dutch
nationality should be rescinded, as this prerequisite is not in conformity with the 1961
Convention. Instead, a requirement of habitual residence could be introduced. It is
also recommended that children born on Dutch territory who would otherwise be
stateless acquire Dutch nationality automatically, at least in the case of those children
born to parents who are permanent residents. In addition, the effects of a revocation
of Dutch nationality in case of fraudulent acquisition of that nationality should be fully
taken into account, if such a revocation were to result in statelessness. In particular,
in such cases, proportionality considerations should be taken into account.
16. A full list of UNHCR’s recommendations is given at the end of the report.
in the Netherlands
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