Court name: Court of Appeal The Hague
State: Netherlands
Date of decision:
Legal instruments: 1954 Statelessness Convention, European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
Key aspects: Determination/confirmation of nationality, Residence permit, Stateless status and documentation, Statelessness determination
After twice being denied a residence permit, the applicant initiated civil proceedings against the Dutch state to obtain a declaratory judgment that the applicant is stateless. The District Court of The Hague considers, citing three cases from the European Court of Human Rights, that the determination of statelessness is not a fundamental right under art. 8 ECHR and there is no obligation for the country of residence to determine whether someone is stateless, if foreign authorities (such as the country of origin) refuse to grant nationality or acknowledge the applicant as a citizen. If fundamental rights can be safeguarded through a different procedure, there is no violation of art. 8 ECHR.