2. Face of statelessness in Norway 2.1 Introduction Statelessness has generally not been viewed as a critical human rights issue in Norway. Despite a number of references to statelessness in the Nationality Act and Immigration Act, Norway does not have a procedure for determining statelessness, except for the general procedure used to assess an individual’s identity within the context of immigration procedures. In 2010, the “No one is illegal” campaign was launched by a consortium of human rights and humanitarian organizations. Among the objectives of the campaign was to emphasize the challenges faced by persons living in Norway without legal status, including stateless persons. The Government was urged to establish various “regularization schemes,” such as the granting of residence permits to undocumented persons, or to find other solutions to resolve their irregular status.21 The focus of NGOs, legal aid services, and other national actors that work with foreigners has mostly been on the asylum procedure and the integration of asylum-seekers and refugees. Little emphasis has been placed on the issue of statelessness.22 Sporadic efforts have been made, such as the creation in 1999 of The Norwegian Organization for Stateless Persons (Norsk Organisasjon for Statsløse Mennesker, or NOSP). The organization led initiatives to address statelessness in line with Norway’s international obligations according to the 1954 and 1961 Conventions and has made efforts to provide stateless persons living in Norway with food, as well as counseling on matters relating to their statelessness.23 Despite the increased focus on the status of rejected asylum-seekers, and an accordingly somewhat greater focus on statelessness, by organizations such as the Norwegian Organisation for Asylum-Seekers (NOAS),24 there appears to be a general lack of awareness of, and attention to, statelessness in Norway.25 2.1.1 Historical background Norway’s nationality law is largely based on the jus sanguinis principle of citizenship. Furthermore, Norway has a longstanding tradition of disallowing dual nationality, a tradition which it maintains to this day. The first Norwegian Nationality Act was adopted in 1888. That act set forth rules for the acquisition of nationality based on jus sanguinis, but special provisions for the acquisition of Norwegian nationality by an application (bevelling) were also made for aliens.26 21 For a description of the goals of the campaign see: http://papirlose.no/wp/?page_id=4. 22 See Chapter 2.3 for discussion. 23 Email from Lucas Kaze, the founder of NOSP, dated 27 July 2012. The organization has been in the process of closing down among other reasons due to lack of resources, and their website is no longer active as of August 2015. 24 NOAS held a seminar on Statelessness as an emerging area of international protection on 9 October 2014. See summary, available at: http://www.noas.no/statsloshet-og-internasjonal-beskyttelse/. 25 For the purpose of this research project, a questionnaire was sent to number of NGOs, legal aid services, and research institutions, to which many of those who responded declared lack a of experience with statelessness. 26 Norges Offentlige Utredinger 2000:32 (NOU), Lov om ervervog tap av norsk statsborgerskap (Statsborgerskapsloven)’, p. 8, chapters 7.1.1 and 7.1.2., available at: http://goo.gl/fUIoA8. UNHCR STOCKHOLM, OCTOBER 2015 13