6 1 PROTECTING STATELESS PERSONS FROM ARBITRARY DETENTION 1. INTRODUCTION The increasing use of immigration detention, including for punitive purposes, and the criminalisation of irregular migration by a growing number of states, is a concerning global and European trend. This results in more people being detained for reasons that are not lawful or for longer than they should be. While arbitrary detention is a significant area of concern in general, the unique characteristics associated with stateless persons and those at risk of statelessness make them more likely to be detained arbitrarily, for unduly lengthy periods of time. As the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held in Kim v Russia, a stateless person is highly vulnerable to be “simply left to languish for months and years…without any authority taking an active interest in his fate and well-being”.1 This is largely because immigration systems and detention regimes do not have appropriate procedures in place to identify statelessness and protect stateless persons. This reality does not sit well with the international and regional human rights frameworks that European countries have obligations under. The protection against arbitrary detention is well entrenched under international and regional law, as is the protection of stateless persons. In this context, the European Network on Statelessness has embarked on a three year project aimed at better understanding the extent and consequences of the detention of stateless persons in Europe, creating tools for and advocating for protecting stateless persons from arbitrary detention through the application of regional and international standards. Among the outputs of this project are: • This regional toolkit, which sets out regional and international standards that states are required to comply with. It is intended as a resource for European practitioners2 (NGOs, lawyers, decision makers etc.) to help them collectively address the protection gap between international and regional standards on the one hand, and ground reality on the other; and • A series of country reports investigating the law, policy and practice related to the detention of stateless persons in selected European countries and its impact on stateless persons and those at risk of statelessness. These reports are meant as information resources but also as awareness raising and advocacy tools that we hope will contribute to strengthening protection frameworks in this regard. For year one of the project (2015), three such country reports have been drafted on Malta, the Netherlands and Poland. In year two, further reports will be published on other countries.3 1.1 WHO THIS TOOLKIT IS FOR AND HOW TO USE IT This toolkit is intended to serve as a resource to a range of European actors who collectively are well placed to enhance the protection of stateless persons, and those at risk of statelessness, from arbitrary immigration detention. Lawyers who are likely to represent stateless clients and/or those in immigration detention; NGOs that provide legal and other services to stateless persons and/or other immigration detainees; legislators and policy makers; state authorities that make and implement decisions to detain; administrative officers and judges with jurisdiction to review detention, hear appeals and order the release of detainees; border guards and private contractors who run detention centres; academics and teachers researching and teaching in this area all may find this toolkit useful and relevant to their work. Stateless persons and those at risk of statelessness may also