Switzerland - Federal Administrative Court, judgment no. C-1873/2013

Court name: Federal Administrative Court of Switzerland
State: Switzerland
Date of decision:
Legal instruments: 1954 Statelessness Convention
Key aspects: Acquisition of nationality, Determination/confirmation of nationality, Statelessness and asylum, Statelessness determination

The complainant, a Syrian Kurd with provisional refugee status in Switzerland, applied for recognition as stateless. Her application was rejected on the grounds that a) she was entitled to Syrian nationality and b) she was already protected by the Refugee Convention. On appeal, the court held that the complainant was entitled to apply for recognition as stateless notwithstanding her status as a refugee and that, since the complainant would have to travel to Syria to claim nationality there, she had adequate reasons for not claiming the nationality to which she had an entitlement and could be recognised as stateless. 

Ireland - K.A. v Refugee Appeals Tribunal and Another

Court name: High Court
State: Ireland
Date of decision:
Legal instruments: Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), European Union law
Key aspects: Childhood statelessness, Country of return, Deportation and removal, Procedural safeguards, Refugee status determination, Statelessness and asylum, Statelessness determination

The applicant is a child who was born in Ireland to a Cameroonian mother and a Ghanaian father, it was asserted that the child was stateless. The Refugee Appeal Tribunal denied the child applicant refugee status and the applicant requested a judicial review of the tribunal’s decision. The application centred around the tribunals alleged wrongful reliance on the applicant’s right to acquire citizenship in Ghana and Cameroon. The application for judicial review was ultimately unsuccessful.

Belgium - Brussels Court of Appeal, judgment 2014/7124

Court name: Brussels Court of Appeal
State: Belgium
Date of decision:
Legal instruments: 1954 Statelessness Convention, 1961 Statelessness Convention, European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
Key aspects: Access to social and economic rights, Burden of proof, Country of return, Discrimination, Protection, Residence permit, Standard of proof, State succession, Stateless status and documentation, Statelessness and asylum, Statelessness determination

The judgment relies on earlier Constitutional Court judgments that have established that stateless persons who lost their nationality involuntarily and demonstrated that they do not have the right to permanent legal residence elsewhere should get residence rights in Belgium on an equal footing with refugees, and that the necessary national legislation is lacking to give effect to such rights. The applicant has a criminal record and was denied residence rights on that basis, but the Court ruled that criminal convictions are irrelevant for his residence rights, and ordered authorities to regularise his residence until new legislation comes to force that regulates the stateless persons' right to residence.