Samenvatting

This article maps the current Dutch practice on statelessness, and tries to expose the current issues in particular. The published legislative proposal for a statelessness determination procedure in September 2016 is an attempt by the Dutch government to solve part of these problems after wide criticism from, among others, the Advisory Committee on Migration Affairs (ACVZ) in 2013. The introduction of a statelessness determination procedure is a long awaited development and a step in the right direction with a view of improving current practice and law for stateless persons residing in the Netherlands. However, significant deficiencies in the legislative proposal risk to greatly undermine the operation and value of the new procedure, especially for those currently left in limbo and excluded from society. This article focuses on the shortcomings in the procedure and provides recommendations how to revise these to ensure that stateless persons are enabled to demonstrate their statelessness adequately and obtain the rights associated with it as intended in the Statelessness Conventions signed by the Netherlands.