Statelessness Determination in the Netherlands
Amsterdam Law School Research Paper No. 2014-33
Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance Research Paper No. 2014-04
37 Pages Posted: 10 May 2014 Last revised: 6 Oct 2014
Date Written: May 8, 2014
Abstract
The Netherlands lacks an adequate mechanism for the identification of stateless persons, and is therefore not complying with its international obligations in the field of statelessness. Contrary to the position of the Dutch government, the existing procedures that stateless persons can appeal to are not in conformity with the relevant international standards. This paper contains a detailed analysis of the two procedures which have been invoked by the Dutch government in defence of the current statelessness protection and identification regime in the Netherlands, namely the registration of individuals in population registers, and the procedure for obtaining the so-called ‘no-fault’ residence permit. It illustrates that neither of the two are effective alternatives for statelessness determination. In addition, recent legislative changes that might affect the registration of statelessness in the Netherlands are discussed, and a proposal put forward by the UNHCR for a determination procedure in courts is evaluated.
Keywords: nationality, citizenship, statelessness, migration, determination procedures, identification, the netherlands, unhcr guidelines
JEL Classification: K23, K39, K49
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation