17. While, since acceding to the 1954 Convention, the Maltese Government has publicly committed to establishing an administrative procedure to determine statelesseness,17 Malta does not currently have a dedicated SDP to identify stateless persons on its territory, determine their statelessness, and facilitate their access to rights. Furthermore, no training is provided to government officials, judges, or lawyers on statelessness.18 18. The definition of a stateless person in the Maltese Citizenship Act is not in line with the 1954 Convention definition, as it defines statelessness as "destitute of any nationality", but the Convention definition is referenced in the Immigration Regulations.19 To ensure the adequate identification and protection of stateless people, it is important that Malta adopts and applies a consistent definition of a stateless person in line with international law. 19. There are some routes through which some stateless people may regularise their stay in Malta, but these are not adequate mechanisms to protect stateless people as statelessness is not identified or assessed in any of the procedures available. The routes available are:20 19.1. Citizenship Act: While the Citizenship Act mentions applications from stateless people, it is unclear how eligibility for such applications is determined and an application has never been processed under this route. 19.2. Temporary Humanitarian Protection: The International Protection Agency may grant Temporary Humanitarian Protection, usually where someone has been refused asylum but cannot be removed and there are exceptional humanitarian reasons. Positively, this form of protection used to be a discretionary policy but it was converted to law in 2020 and embedded in the International Protection Act. A person granted Temporary Humanitarian Protection can access a renewable residence permit for one year and is entitled to the same rights as beneficiaries of subsidiary protection, including a travel document, healthcare, and the labour market. 19.3. Refugee status determination: Statelessness may be identified during refugee status determination procedures as part of a person’s claim for international protection, but this does not lead to a formal recognition of statelessness. 19.4. Humanitarian residence permits: The Immigration Police also has discretion 17 Information provided by the Ministry for Home Affairs, Security, Reforms and Equality in response to Parliamentary Question 4690, on 17 January 2023, available at: https://pq.gov.mt/PQWeb.nsf/7561f7daddf0609ac1257d1800311f18/c1257d2e0046dfa1c125893a00450b41!OpenDocument. 18 UNHCR Country Office, Malta; Refugee Law and Statelessness: Practical Aspects, available at: http://www.um.edu.mt/arts/studyunit/IRL5006. 19 Maltese Citizenship Act, Article 2, available at: http://www.justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=8702&l=1; Subsidiary Legislation 217.04, Immigration Regulations, 1 May 2004, Regulation 17(4), available at: http://www.justiceservices.gov.mt/DownloadDocument.aspx?app=lom&itemid=9559&l=1. 20 Maltese Citizenship Act, CAP. 188 of the Laws of Malta, https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/188/eng/pdf; International Protection Act, CAP. 420 of the Laws of Malta, Article 17A, https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/420/eng/pdf; Ministry for Home Affairs and National Security, and Parliamentary Secretariat for Reforms, Citizenship and Simplification of Administrative Processes, Policy regarding Specific Residence Authorisation, November 2018, https://homeaffairs.gov.mt/en/media/PoliciesDocuments/Pages/Specific-Residence-Authorisation-2018.aspx; Identity Malta, Updating of the Policy regarding Specific Residence Authorisation, 24 November 2020, https://identitymalta.com/updating-of-the-policy-regarding-specific-residenceauthorisation/. 5