The treatment of non-refugee stateless persons varies greatly across the States of the European Union. Not much is known about it and it is disputed whether, and to what extent, national mechanisms are in line with the corresponding international obligations. In light of the differences observed, this thesis argues that the recognition of stateless status and the related application of a basic set of rights, according to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (the ‘1954 Convention’), are more likely to occur when Member States incorporate specific laws and procedures. In particular, the protection of stateless persons is more effective when Member States rigorously address the issue of identification of statelessness by adopting exact provisions rather than simply modifying existing norms and making marginal changes to immigration laws. Although the 1954 Convention does not explicitly require that a procedure or specific means for determining statelessness be established, it sets forth standards of treatment which can only be put into practice if its beneficiaries have been recognised. Effective protection also necessitates taking measures to remove obstacles of general applicability and publicity of rights and procedures. By analysing the treatment of claims for protection by stateless persons in ten European Union States that have ratified the 1954 Convention, this research contributes to the questions of whether detailed statelessness determination procedures are needed, what their constituent elements should be, how decision-makers apply the definition of ‘stateless person’, and what rights are attached to the grant of lawful status. It highlights shortcomings as well as good models of the national legal frameworks, and makes recommendations for further developments. Against this backdrop, it adds insights to the wider debate on how human rights treaties should be implemented by demonstrating that their formal incorporation into the national frameworks is desirable to ensure certainty and effectiveness of the law.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:675109 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Bianchini, Katia |
| Contributors | Jones, Martin D. |
| Publisher | University of York |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/11243/ |
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