- Englisch
Belgium has a relatively good record on accession to relevant human rights instruments, but it entered declarations to the 1961 Convention, which limit the scope of some provisions to prevent statelessness, and it has not acceded the relevant Council of Europe Conventions. Some data on the stateless population is available and improvements have been made, but there are some remaining gaps. Statelessness may be determined through a judicial procedure and, since September 2024, it is possible to apply for a residence permit on the grounds of statelessness through a new administrative procedure. However, in the judicial procedure procedural rules and safeguards are limited, the burden and standard of proof do not comply with international standards, and recognition of statelessness by the courts does not lead to a residence permit nor additional protection, beyond the right to a social allowance. The new administrative procedure introduced a residence permit on the grounds of statelessness for the first time, but due to strict conditions and limited procedural guarantees, does not constitute a fair, effective, and accessible procedure for stateless people to access their rights. There are also gaps in safeguards to prevent the arbitrary detention of stateless people, and people released from detention are not provided with identification documents or rights.
There are some safeguards to prevent and reduce statelessness established in Belgian law, including a provision to automatically grant nationality to otherwise stateless children born on the territory, but there are issues with how this operates in practice and there have been reports of certain groups facing challenges, for example children born in Belgium to Palestinian and Paraguayan parents. There is a foundlings provision, but it applies only to newborn children. There may be a risk of statelessness in adoption proceedings due to rules on loss and acquisition of Belgian nationality. Although all births should be registered in Belgium irrespective of parents’ status, public servants must report undocumented people to the immigration authorities, which may prevent some undocumented people from registering their children’s births. Parents must also be lawfully residing to subsequently register a child in the National Registry, a precondition for access to many rights, including full access to education and healthcare. On loss and deprivation of nationality, there are safeguards to prevent statelessness in most cases, except where nationality is acquired through fraud.
The original version of this country profile is the English version. In case of any discrepancies with the translated version, the English version should take primacy.
Hania Ouhnaoui and Julie Lejeune, NANSEN
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