Court name: Council of State of the Netherlands (Raad van State)
State: Netherlands
Date of decision:
Legal instruments: European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), European Union law
Key aspects: Burden of proof, Determination/confirmation of nationality, Establishing identity, Respect for private and family life, Standard of proof, Stateless status and documentation, Statelessness and asylum, Statelessness determination
The applicant received asylum status as a stateless Palestinian, but his request to register his statelessness in the municipal civil records was rejected due to lack of evidence. He has an original UNRWA document and an ID from Lebanon, but they were considered insufficient proof of identity as well as of statelessness. The applicant complained that inability to affirm his statelessness violates his identity rights under article 8 ECHR, as well as his rights as a stateless person under EU law, both of which arguments didn't succeed.