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.

Netherlands - Council of State (Raad van State), ECLI:NL:RBDHA:2018:9575

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. 

Netherlands - Administrative Jurisdiction Division from the Council of State, ECLI:NL:RVS:2019:2711

Court name: Administrative Jurisdiction Division from the Council of State
State: Netherlands
Date of decision:
Legal instruments: 1954 Statelessness Convention, 1961 Statelessness Convention
Key aspects: Determination/confirmation of nationality, Standard of proof, State succession, Statelessness determination

Request to have nationality changed from "unknown" to "stateless" denied, as it cannot be ruled out that the applicant's father has Macedonian nationality. Applicant did not provide enough evidence to determine statelessness.