obligation to ‘identify stateless persons in order to accord them appropriate standards of
treatment under the Convention.’44 A formal statelessness determination procedure would
offer the most effective means to protect the rights of stateless persons who do not have the
right to RoC nationality, and would assist the State in its implementation of a statelessness
safeguard.45 It would also allow the RoC to better understand the extent of statelessness on its
territory and to better monitor the status and treatment of stateless persons.46 A statelessness
determination procedure should, according to the UNHCR Handbook on Protection of Stateless
Persons, be simple, accessible to everyone within the territory, and be fair and efficient.47
Recommendations
45. Based on the above information, the co-submitting organisations urge reviewing States to
make the following recommendations to the Republic of Cyprus:
I.
Take all necessary active measures to respect and ensure human rights for every person
within their jurisdiction, without discrimination of any kind; irrespective of the person’s
race, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, birth
or other status, in accordance with UDHR article 2 and other human rights treaty
provisions.
II.
Review and amend relevant legal provisions and ensure non-discriminatory application
of the law to guarantee the right of all persons who have one RoC parent to obtain RoC
nationality, irrespective of the other parent’s ethnicity or gender as well as the place of
residence and/or means of entering the country.
III.
Guarantee equal access without discrimination (in law and practice) to fundamental
rights for all people on their territory, irrespective of place of residence, mixed parentage,
documentation or citizenship status, including primary and secondary education,
healthcare and work.
IV.
Implement all recommendations previously made by UN treaty bodies, including those
made by the Human Rights Committee to: a) take immediate steps to ensure Turkish
Cypriots have the same rights and obligations as all other Cypriot citizens, both in law and
in fact, to vote and stand for elections so as to be in full compliance with articles 25 and
26 of the Covenant’, and b) ‘take adequate measures to ensure that the nationality laws
are applied indiscriminately on the basis of clearly defined criteria. It should ensure that
applicants have access to information concerning the requirements of citizenship and
that they receive a decision on their application for citizenship within a reasonable period
of time.’
44
UNHCR, Statelessness Handbook, para 144.
45
UNHCR, Good Practices Paper – Action 6: Establishing Statelessness Determination Procedures to Protect Stateless
Persons, 11 July 2016, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/57836cff4.html, p. 2.
46
UNHCR, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness, Action 6, 4 November 2014, available at:
http://www.refworld.org/docid/545b47d64.html; UNHCR, Mapping Statelessness in Austria, January 2017, available at:
http://www.refworld.org/docid/58b6e5b14.html, para 125.
47
UNHCR, Statelessness Handbook, paras. 63, 68 and 69.