trends and developments, to which it can adequately respond and therefore meet its duties to protect the rights of stateless persons and reduce statelessness. 23. According to UNHCR Guidelines, a competent authority with expertise on nationality and statelessness should be responsible for such a procedure. 40 However, under the current Dutch legal framework, there is no specific authority charged with determining statelessness. For example, Dutch municipalities are asked to record an individual’s nationality in the Basic Registration of Persons Database (BRP). People staying legally in the Netherlands can be registered as stateless in the BRP based on identity documents evidencing statelessness or a statement by the Minister of Security and Justice at the Dutch Immigration Service. However, the BRP procedure is only a registration procedure, which records established data about a person. The procedure does not assess evidence of nationality beyond a standard passport or straightforward rule of nationality law, and challenges with policy implementation lead to protection gaps. Registration as stateless in the BRP provides additional rights for stateless persons with lawful residence (for example, a travel document for stateless persons and accelerated access to Dutch nationality). However, if an incorrect status has been entered in the BRP, most often ‘nationality unknown’, several problems can arise including barriers to naturalisation and travel. Stateless people, especially children, find themselves in vulnerable situations where the principles of non-discrimination and personal identity are often endangered (Articles 2 and 8 of the CRC).41 No lawful residence or an official legal status is granted based on statelessness identification and registration. 24. A legislative proposal for an SDP was submitted to the Dutch Parliament in December 2020 and will be discussed in Parliament in week 14 of 2022.42 If passed, this law would finally establish an SDP, helping to address the problematic practice of leaving individuals indefinitely registered as having “unknown nationality”. However, serious shortcomings are present in the revised legislative proposal, which will not bring about full compliance of the Netherlands with its obligations under the 1954 Convention. 25. The legislative proposal states that neither the submission of an application under the SDP, nor the determination of statelessness, will convey a right of residence in the Netherlands.43 Access to all social services and general participation in society is linked to lawful stay in the Netherlands. Without legal residence on another basis, stateless people have access only to ‘medically necessary’ healthcare and they are not entitled to work, social security, social housing, education (except for minors), the right to vote, or family reunification. Without a right to residence, stateless persons often find themselves on the margins of society, unable to leave the country and excluded from any rights in the Netherlands. The legislative proposal as it stands will not resolve these violations of the Netherlands’ obligations under the 1954 Convention. 26. Stateless people also face a heightened risk of arbitrary and lengthy detention, particularly where statelessness is not identified and determined, and the specific 40 UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No.4: Ensuring Every Child’s Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 2012, HCR/GS/12/04, para. 54, https://www.refworld.org/docid/50d460c72.html. 41 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, Articles 2 and 8 42 See https://www.tweedekamer.nl/kamerstukken/wetsvoorstellen/detail?id=2020Z25633&dossier=35687 43 Explanatory memorandum statelessness determination procedure, p. 4, https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/rapporten/2020/12/14/tk-mvt-wetsvoorstel-vaststellingsprocedure-rvs-versie 8