Acknowledgements About this Project Endnotes Sarah Dale and Katie Robertson gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Statelessness Hallmark Research Initiative, Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Professor Michelle Foster, Dr Christoph Sperfeldt, Professor John Tobin, Hayley Jones and Allen & Overy for supporting the ‘A Place to Call Home’ Project. Particular acknowledgement goes to Ahmad Sawan and Isobel McGarity of the Refugee Advice and Casework Service for their exceptional commitment and legal work on behalf of stateless children in Australia. The authors also wish to acknowledge Asher Hirsch of the Refugee Council of Australia, Nicki Lees of Maurice Blackburn and Professor Kim Rubenstein for their generosity of time in being interviewed in the early stages of research. Thank you to Stephanie Jones and Hannah Gordon for editing assistance. Katie Robertson and Sarah Dale met in 2014, whilst both independently providing legal assistance to asylum seeker children on Christmas Island, many of whom faced transfer to Nauru. Katie worked extensively on the ‘Baby Ferouz’ matter, which involved successfully preventing the transfer of over 100 Australian born asylum seekers and their families to Nauru. She also worked on the first test case to secure Australian citizenship for an Australian born ‘unauthorised maritime arrival’ stateless child refugee, Ferouz. 1 Sarah worked to prevent the transfer of many unaccompanied children from transfer to Nauru and has represented more than 100 unaccompanied children through the process of seeking asylum in Australia, including those transferred to Nauru with complaints before the United Nations. Migration Amendment (Temporary Protection Visas) Regulation 2013 (Cth) reg 2.08H(2)(d); Migration Act 1958 (Cth) s 46A(1) (‘Migration Act’); Kevin Rudd, ‘Joint Press Conference: Regional Resettlement Arrangement’ (Speech, Brisbane, 19 July 2013) <https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/media/pressrel/2611766/upload_binary/2611766. pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22media/pressrel/2611766%22>. Refugee Advice and Casework Service, An Overview of the Current Legal Situation for People Seeking Asylum in Australia (Factsheet, November 2019) 3 <https://www.racs.org.au/s/101-An-Overview-of-the-Current-Legal-Situation-for-PeopleSeeking-Asylum.pdf>; Refugee Advice and Casework Service, Fact Sheet: Temporary Protection Visas (TPV) and Safe Haven Enterprise Visas (SHEV) (Factsheet, November 2019) 2 <https://www.racs.org.au/s/202-TPV-and-SHEVS-BoatArrivals.pdf>. 2 Migration and Maritime Powers Legislation Amendment (Resolving the Asylum Legacy Caseload) Act 2014 (Cth) sch 6 pt 1 cll 1, 7. 3 An application for a visa is not considered a valid application under the Migration Act (n 1) if it is made by a ‘transitory person’ who is in Australia and who is either an unlawful non-citizen or a person who holds a bridging visa, a temporary protection visa, or certain other prescribed temporary visas: s 46B(1). Further, if a transitory person, who has been present in Australia for a temporary purpose, no longer needs to be in Australia for that purpose, then the person must be removed from Australia as soon as reasonably practicable: s 198(1A). 4 The international legal definition of a ‘stateless person’ is ‘a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law.’ See Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, opened for signature 28 September 1954, 360 UNTS 117 (entered into force 6 June 1960) art 1 (‘1954 Statelessness Convention’). See further Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Factsheet: An Overview of Statelessness (Factsheet, September 2020) 1 <https://law. unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/3489676/Statelessness_overview_factsheet_Sept_2020.pdf>. 5 Migration Act (n 1) ss 5(1)(d), (e), 199(2), (3); Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (Cth) s 21(8) (‘Citizenship Act’). 6 Factsheet: An Overview of Statelessness (n 5) 1. 7 1954 Statelessness Convention (n 5) art 1. See further Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Factsheet: The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (Factsheet, September 2020) <https://law.unimelb.edu.au/__data/ assets/pdf_file/0003/3489600/1954-Convention_factsheet_Sept_2020.pdf>. 8 Factsheet: An Overview of Statelessness (n 5) 1. 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. 11 The Refugee Advice and Casework Service gratefully acknowledges the Australian Ethical Foundation and the Danks Trust for funding the Stateless Children Project. Above all, the authors wish to acknowledge the stateless children and their families interviewed in this report for their bravery, honesty and hope for a better life. May Australian citizenship one day be yours. They have both since successfully provided legal assistance to stateless children in Australia in their application for citizenship. Together they are committed to highlighting the inadequacy of the protections for the rights of children, stateless, and refugees who arrive in Australia seeking asylum through research and frontline service delivery. As co-chairs of the Stateless Children Australia Network, they continue to advocate for greater legal support for stateless children nationally. ‘Statelessness Around the World’, UNHCR (Web Page) <https://www.unhcr.org/en-au/statelessness-around-the-world. html>. 12 UNHCR, I Am Here, I Belong: The Urgent Need to End Childhood Statelessness (Report, 2015) 4 <https://www.unhcr.org/ ibelong/wp-content/uploads/2015-10-StatelessReport_ENG16.pdf>; Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, Childhood Statelessness (Report, 2018) 4, 9 <https://files.institutesi.org/childhood-statelessness.pdf>. 13 See further, Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Factsheets: Childhood Statelessness (Factsheet, 2020) 14 <https://law.unimelb.edu.au/centres/statelessness/resources/factsheets>. 1954 Statelessness Convention (n 5); Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, opened for signature 30 August 1961, 989 UNTS 175 (entered into force 13 December 1975) (‘1961 Statelessness Convention’). 15 Australia ratified the 1954 Convention on 13 December 1973: UN Treaty Collection, 3. Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 1 <https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/MTDSG/Volume%20I/Chapter%20V/V-3.en.pdf>. Australia ratified the 1961 Convention on 13 December 1973: UN Treaty Collection, 4. Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 1 <https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/MTDSG/Volume%20I/Chapter%20V/V-4.en.pdf>. 16 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, opened for signature 16 December 1966, 999 UNTS 171 (entered into force 23 March 1976) (‘ICCPR’). Australia ratified the ICCPR on 13 August 1980: UN Treaty Collection, 4. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1 <https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/MTDSG/Volume%20I/Chapter%20IV/IV-4. en.pdf>. 17 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, opened for signature 7 March 1966, 600 UNTS 195 (entered into force 4 January 1969) (‘ICERD’). Australia ratified the ICERD on 30 September 1975: UN Treaty Collection, 2. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 1 <https://treaties.un.org/doc/ Publication/MTDSG/Volume%20I/Chapter%20IV/IV-2.en.pdf>. 18 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, opened for signature 18 December 1979, 1249 UNTS 13 (entered into force 3 September 1981) (‘CEDAW’). Australia ratified the CEDAW on 28 July 1983: UN Treaty Collection, 8. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1 <https://treaties.un.org/doc/ Publication/MTDSG/Volume%20I/Chapter%20IV/IV-8.en.pdf>. 19 Convention on the Rights of the Child, opened for signature 20 November 1989, 1577 UNTS 3 (entered into force 2 September 1990) (‘CRC’). Australia ratified the CRC on 17 December 1990: UN Treaty Collection, 11. Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1 <https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/MTDSG/Volume%20I/Chapter%20IV/IV-11.en.pdf>. 20 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, opened for signature 30 March 2007, 2515 UNTS 3 (entered into force 3 May 2008) (‘CRPD’). Australia ratified the CRPD on 17 July 2008: UN Treaty Collection, 15. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 1 <https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/MTDSG/Volume%20I/Chapter%20IV/IV-15.en.pdf>. 21 Katie Robertson Sarah Dale Citizenship Act (n 6) s 21(8). 22 Migration Act (n 1) s 5AA(1A)(b). 23 Ibid s 46A. 24 Ibid s 198AD(2). 25 Acknowledgements & About this Project 22 Endnotes 23