Human Rights Committee - Zhao v. Netherlands

Court name: Human Rights Committee
State: Netherlands
Date of decision:
Key aspects: Acquisition of nationality, Childhood statelessness, Determination/confirmation of nationality, Standard of proof, Statelessness determination

A child was born in the Netherlands was registered as having 'unknown' nationality and the authorities refused changing it to 'stateless' on the ground that the child had not proved that he had no nationality, as the burden of proof was on the child and not on the authorities. Without being recognised as stateless, the author could not acquire Dutch nationality. The Committee adopted the view that this requirement rendered the author of the complaint unable to effectively enjoy his right as a minor to acquire a nationality, in violation of the rights guaranteed under Article 24(3) in conjunction with Article 2(3) ICCPR.

Ireland - Damache v Minister for Justice

Court name: Supreme Court
State: Ireland
Date of decision:
Legal instruments: 1961 Statelessness Convention, European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), European Union law, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
Key aspects: Acquisition of nationality, Deportation and removal, Deprivation of nationality, Procedural safeguards, Standard of proof, Statelessness determination

The applicant brought an appeal challenging the constitutionality of s.19 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, which governs the procedure by which revocation of naturalisation is determined. The fact that the Minister initiated the revocation process, appointed the committee charged with conducting the inquiry and then reached the final decision, was unconstitutional according to the applicant, as it breached the right to fair procedures. The Court held that s.19 was unconstitutional because it did not provide the procedural safeguards required to meet the high threshold of natural justice applicable to a person facing such severe consequences, i.e. revocation of naturalisation.