Different international
obligations have been established in order to address the problem of
statelessness, mainly by the 1954 United Nations (UN) Convention relating to
the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of
Statelessness. Even though a growing number of states is committing to these
obligations by acceding to the aforementioned treaties, a question that is
often raised is whether states actually follow through and adhere to their
obligation to prevent and reduce statelessness, and protect stateless persons
at the national level. As part of my research regarding statelessness and
statelessness determination – in my view an important first step in adequately
protecting stateless persons in practice at the national level – in the
European Union (EU), I therefore decided to test to what extent national
legislation of EU member states actually pays any attention to statelessness. I
did so by undertaking a small study into references to statelessness in the
main laws regarding nationality/citizenship of three randomly selected EU
member states: Czech Republic, Italy and Luxembourg. Of these countries, only
Czech Republic is a States Party to the 1954 and 1961 Conventions; Italy and
Luxembourg have both only ratified the 1954 Convention. What furthermore should
be noted is that this study is not only limited by the small number of
countries included, but also in the sense that only references to statelessness
in the main nationality laws of these countries are considered. This approach
was chosen because statelessness is closely linked to nationality, as the lack
of this is statelessness. Despite these limitations, I still think my findings
give an impression of whether states actually take statelessness into account
at the domestic level. This preliminary research can also uncover whether it
would be of interest to undertake a more elaborate study into references to
statelessness in the domestic legislation of all EU member states in order to
find good and bad practices in dealing with the different aspects of
statelessness. My findings were as follows:
Czech Republic
The Czech Act to regulate the Acquisition and Loss of Citizenship
refers to statelessness several times. With a view to prevention of
statelessness, it provides that a child born on the territory of Czech Republic
shall acquire Czech citizenship if its parents are stateless and at least one
of them has permanent residence on the territory. Here, a definition of a
stateless person is given as well: “a natural person without citizenship”. Furthermore,
the issue of statelessness is acknowledged in naturalization and application
procedures in the Czech Republic. Whenever certain documents are needed to prove
that someone will lose his or her current/previous nationality with the
acquisition of Czech citizenship, the Act provides for an exemption with the
words “unless the person is a stateless person or a person with refugee status
in the territory of the Czech Republic”.
Italy
The Italian Citizenship Law No. 91 of 5 February 1992
(Law No. 91/92) elaborates on Italian citizenship and mentions statelessness.
Again a preventive clause regarding statelessness is provided for, as any
person who was born in Italian territory, of whom either both parents are
unknown or stateless, or where he or she does not acquire his or her parents’
citizenship according to the law of the state to which the latter belong shall
be considered an Italian citizen by birth. There are also some more specific
provisions regarding stateless persons with Italian ancestors, and for spouses.
A more general reference to statelessness concerns stateless persons who are
legally resident in Italy – establishing that they shall be subject to Italian
law insofar as the exercise of civil rights and the performance of military
duties are concerned. This means that legally resident stateless persons can
enjoy civil rights and be protected in this sense. From this, it can also be
assumed that there is some way to be legally resident in Italy as a stateless
person. Both protection and prevention thus seem to be covered in some way by
the Italian law regarding citizenship.
Luxembourg
The Law on Luxembourg Nationality is active in the
prevention of statelessness by providing that all children born in Luxembourg who
have no nationality because their parents are stateless shall acquire
Luxembourg nationality through birth. This kind of attention to statelessness can
also been seen when the lineage of a child to a Luxembourg parent has not been
established prior to him or her reaching the age of 18 years. Normally, a child
would lose Luxembourg nationality in this case, unless the other parent possesses
the status of Luxembourger or when the child would become stateless.
Statelessness is also considered in the context of withdrawing Luxembourg
nationality where it was obtained through fraudulent procedures: withdrawal is
impossible if this would render the person concerned stateless. In the
provisions regarding naturalization, however, no reference to statelessness is
to be found. Still, Luxembourg laws clearly try to prevent statelessness, which
should be commended.
Though this is only a limited study of references to
statelessness in domestic laws of EU member states, some conclusions can be
drawn. First of all, it is clear that there definitely are such references to
be found – at least in the three countries studied – and that states do pay
attention to statelessness at the domestic level.
Secondly, the laws studied take statelessness into account in different ways,
but certainly all have an interest in preventing statelessness. This could be
expected because the rules studied are those dealing with access to
nationality. Yet this might imply that in other laws, for example regarding
aliens or refugees, references regarding the protection of stateless persons
are also included. Overall I think this little piece of research shows that the
implementation of the international obligations regarding statelessness at the
national level is in need of further inquiry. Also, it demonstrates that states
have already taken an interest in the issue of statelessness and sought to
address certain problems through their laws. States should therefore be
encouraged to join the international treaties on statelessness, and for States
Parties to the conventions, guidelines, such as the Guidelines that are being
issued by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), that clarify the commitments and provide guidance in designing the
appropriate domestic legislation are important for adequate implementation.
Greater attention for the issue and more research will remain key in this
process.
No comments:
Post a Comment