The applicant, of Palestinian origin, applied for stateless status, arguing that Spain does not recognise Palestine as a State. The Supreme Court rejected her application arguing that many countries in the international community recognise Palestine as a state, implying that Palestine provided the applicant with protection.
Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 28 September 1954
Ley Orgánica 4/2000, de 11 de enero, sobre derechos y libertades de los extranjeros en España y su integración social (Aliens Act).
Real Decreto 865/2001, de 20 de julio, por el que se aprueba el Reglamento de reconocimiento del estatuto de apátrida (Status Determination Procedure Regulation).
The applicant of Palestinian origin, in possession of a Palestinian passport, applied for stateless status, based on the fact that Spain does not recognise Palestine as a State. The National High Court rejected her application, a decision which was later upheld by the Supreme Court. The court stated that even though Spain does not recognise Palestine as a State, the country is recognised by a variety of countries in the international community. This, together with the fact that the applicant held a Palestinian passport, implied that Palestine could provide protection to the applicant, which excluded her from acquiring stateless status.
The applicant argued that (Legal Reasoning no. 3):
- It is not in accordance with the law for Spain, who does not recognise the Palestine as a State, to deny the stateless status to the applicant based on the argument that she already has the Palestinian nationality. Likewise, it is incoherent that the National Court recognises the Palestinian State for the mere purpose of denying the applicant´s stateless status.
The National High Court used to reject the application are summarised in the decision’s Legal reasoning’s no. 4 and 5:
- The article 1.1 of the 1954 Convention establishes that in order to be granted with the stateless status the applicant should not be “considered as its national by any State, in accordance with its legislation”. This means that to obtain the statelessness status the applicant cannot be recognised as a national by any other State.
- In this case, the applicant has a Palestinian passport, and even though Spain does not recognise Palestine as a State, it grants the passport the status of a travel document. Likewise, Palestine has achieved a high degree of recognition in the international community: there are one hundred and thirty countries, including nine of the European Union, which recognised Palestine as a State. This imply that the applicant is not in a situation of impossibility of holding or acquiring a nationality, considering that she has one recognised by the majority of the existing States in the world.
- According to the applicant, a State must grant the stateless status to all nationals whose States are not recognised by it, regardless the degree of acceptance of those in the international arena. However, such thesis cannot be accepted because it would go against the configuration of statelessness, which is intended to provide protection to any person who does not have the protection and support of a State. For this purpose, it is irrelevant whether or not the decision-making State recognises the State of the applicant's nationality, since this point is innocuous for the purposes that the institution intends: recognised or not by the decision-making State, the State of origin grants protection to their nationals, and that fact excludes statelessness.
- The Palestinian State has been recognised by more than 130 countries, including nine from the European Union, having obtained acceptance in different international organisations, among which it is worth highlighting its position as Observer State of the United Nations since November 2012. It is from that Palestinian State of which the applicant is a national, possessing the corresponding passport, which is, according to the response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the diligence of the Court of Instance, “an ordinary passport issued by the Palestinian Authority” and that “allows its bearer to return to territory currently controlled by the Palestinian Authority”. Consequently, it is from that Palestinian State that the applicant is a citizen, and, therefore, she does not meet the basic requirements for obtaining the stateless status.
No violation. The Supreme Court upheld the inferior court’s decision rejecting the applicant’s statelessness status request.
Sentencia del Tribunal Supremo nº 1330/2014, de 22 de diciembre de 2008