Georgia’s record overall on accession to relevant international treaties is good, although it has not acceded to the regional statelessness conventions, the European Convention on Nationality, and the Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession. It also retains reservations to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Disaggregated data on the stateless population in Georgia is available, but official data only records the number of people recognised as stateless under the Statelessness Determination Procedure (SDP). The number of stateless people is therefore likely to be underreported, as a number are reported as having ‘undetermined nationality’.
Georgia introduced a dedicated SDP in law in 2012. The procedure is accessible with no fee, lawful stay requirement, nor time limit, and an application can be submitted in several locations across the country. However, applications can only be made in writing in Georgian and may not be initiated ex officio. There are some procedural safeguards, but the lack of State-funded legal aid during the procedure or the appeal puts a strain on NGOs offering free legal advice. Applicants have a right to stay and basic rights during the procedure. People recognised as stateless are granted a renewable three-year temporary residence permit and the rights granted are mostly in line with nationals. Positively, the Government’s 2023 Statelessness Action Plan provides for measures to improve the SDP.
However, there are gaps in safeguards to prevent the arbitrary detention of stateless people in Georgia. While a country of removal must be set prior to detention, alternative measures are not mandatory, authorities are not obliged to release a person when there is no reasonable prospect of removal, and there is no referral to the SDP.
Since January 2024, stateless people may now apply for naturalisation after five years (reduced from 10 years) and are exempted from the application fee. However, other stringent eligibility requirements continue to apply. There are some safeguards in law to prevent childhood statelessness, including in the case of adoption and children born abroad to Georgian parents, but only some children born in the country who would otherwise be stateless automatically acquire Georgian citizenship. Georgia has a relatively good framework in place to ensure universal and immediate birth registration, with some exceptions. A 2022 campaign led to a reduction in numbers affected by risk of statelessness, though a significant part of the Romani population remains at risk. While deprivation of nationality is prohibited, loss of nationality is permitted by law and there is no safeguard to prevent statelessness.
Salome Jokhadze, Rights Georgia
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