The Index update shows little change in the Netherlands over the course of 2018, as proposed Bills introducing a statelessness determination procedure and amending safeguards in the citizenship law are yet to progress through parliament, leaving continuing gaps on both protection and prevention of statelessness.
Despite a strong international treaty record, Dutch law, policy and practice is lacking when it comes to the protection of stateless people as there is still no route to protection under the 1954 Convention for stateless people in the country, putting those without legal residence at significant risk of arbitrary detention.
On prevention, draft legislation proposing an amendment to the nationality law provision safeguarding children born on the territory from statelessness, still makes a child's right to acquire nationality conditional on the actions of their parents. And, although existing law requires immediate, universal birth registration, in practice, documentation requirements and complex late registration procedures continue to pose barriers for some marginalised groups.
Other new information added to the Index in 2018 includes updated population data, and information on law, policy and practice on withdrawal of nationality, where Dutch legislation is assessed as complying with international norms, safeguarding against statelessness in all cases except where citizenship has been acquired through fraud.
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