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.