Spain - Supreme Court (Contentious-Administrative Chamber), appeal no. 4631/2010

Court name: Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo)
State: Spain
Date of decision:
Legal instruments: 1954 Statelessness Convention
Key aspects: Stateless status and documentation, Statelessness determination

The Supreme Court held that a passport issued by the Algerian authorities to a Saharawi person living at the refugee camps only serves as a travel document and does not confirm that the applicant has Algerian nationality. The applicant is stateless and must be officially recognised as such. 

France - Bordeaux Court of Appeal, case no. 10BX00116

Court name: Bordeaux Court of Appeal
State: France
Date of decision:
Legal instruments: 1954 Statelessness Convention
Key aspects: Burden of proof, Deportation and removal, Discrimination, Residence permit, Standard of proof, Statelessness determination

Applicant was born on the territory of what is now Kosovo, and is of Roma origin. He was unable to access Kosovar nationality due to discrimination against Roma, and he was not accepted by the Kosovar authorities when France attempted to expel him. His application for stateless status was rejected by OFPRA, as he did not demonstrate having made sufficient efforts to obtain Kosovar or Serbian nationality, and this decision was upheld by the Court. 

France - Versailles Administrative Court, case no. 08VE02854

Court name: Versailles Administrative Court
State: France
Date of decision:
Legal instruments: 1954 Statelessness Convention
Key aspects: Burden of proof, Discrimination, Standard of proof, Statelessness determination

The applicant belongs to Biharie minority in Bangladesh, and applied for the recognition of his statelessness in France, submitting additional documentary evidence that access to Bangladeshi nationality is restricted for him. The Court could not make sense of all the documents submitted, and requested both the applicant and OFPRA to submit additional information and observations regarding the nature of the documents and the circumstances in which they were issued.

ECtHR - Auad v. Bulgaria

Court name: European Court of Human Rights
State: Bulgaria
Date of decision:
Legal instruments: 1954 Statelessness Convention, European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), European Union law
Key aspects: Country of return, Deportation and removal, Detention

The case originated in an application against Bulgaria lodged by a stateless person of Palestinian origin. He had obtained subsidiary protection in Bulgaria, but was later served an expulsion order on national security grounds, detained for removal for 18 months and then released due to the impossibility of implementing the expulsion order. The Court reiterates that States have an obligation to identify a destination country in removal orders, stating that “In cases of aliens detained with a view to deportation, lack of clarity as to the destination country could hamper effective control of the authorities’ diligence in handling the deportation”. The Court held that detention with an uncertain destination is violates Articles 3, 5, and 13 ECHR.