The UNHCR pointed out that providing a statelessness determination procedure is an implicit obligation for states parties to the 1954 United Nations
Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the aforementioned
1961 Convention, because the protective rules of these conventions can only
operate if it is established that a person is stateless.40
35. It is very important to make a statelessness determination procedure
or any other procedure easily accessible for children.41 If necessary, a special
guardian ad litem should be appointed to initiate such procedures and act as
the child��s legal representative during the process.
2. Rules and practices in member states42
36. At least 14 member states have a statelessness determination procedure.43
There are also special procedures in two other states.44 In some of these states
specific attention is given to the determination of the statelessness of children.
In one state, while there is no statelessness determination procedure, there
is a legal position paper on assessment of statelessness as part of a person’s
identity, adopted in 2023.45
37. In almost all states, rules on the appointment of a special legal representative exist if a child does not have legally recognised parents or has entered
the country as an unaccompanied minor. The appointment of a legal representative has to happen ex officio.
38. During the procedure, the guiding principle is the protection of the best
interests of the child.46 For example, one state described what this means as
follows:
► fair treatment which meets the same standard as a child who is a national
of the country would receive;
► the child’s best interests is a primary consideration;
40. See UNHCR Handbook on the protection of stateless persons, para 57-107.
41. See also Principles 3-5 of Recommendation CM/Rec (2009)13.
42. This description is based on the answers to the questionnaire sent to the member states
in June 2024 and supplemented by data from, inter alia, the statelessness index of the
European Network on Statelessness (ENS).
43. Albania, Bulgaria, Czechia, France, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Republic of Moldova,
Netherlands, Spain, Türkiye, Ukraine, and United Kingdom.
44. Belgium and Montenegro.
45. Sweden.
46. See the standards described in Recommendation CM/Rec (2019)11 of the Committee of
Ministers to member States on Effective guardianship for unaccompanied and separated
children in the context of migration.
Issues at stake: international standards and stocktaking of national situations ► Page 15