Case No. UKUT-00015-(IAC)

(IJR) [2015] UKUT 658 (IAC). Its decision drew attention to the test for statelessness enshrined in Article 1(1) of the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (the “1954 Convention”) namely where the person concerned is not considered to be a national by any state under the operation of its law: see [13]. This Tribunal observed, at [14]: “It is no coincidence that statelessness was made the subject of an international treaty during the same era when elaborate international provision was made for refugees. Statelessness, as a matter of law, denotes the lack of any nationality. While some stateless persons are also refugees, not all asylum claimants are stateless and not all stateless persons are refugees. Statelessness is a global phenomenon which has multiple causes. It invites reflection on the two conventional mechanisms whereby nationality is acquired, namely (a) through birth on the territory of a state (jus soli) and (b) from birth through descent (jus sanguinis). Statelessness is addressed not only in the 1954 Convention but also in the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961), the American Convention on Human Rights, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the European Convention on Nationality.” At [16] this Tribunal stated: “At a practical level, the question of whether the definition of statelessness is satisfied will frequently require an assessment of whether the person concerned possesses or has access to a document, such as a passport or a national identity card or something kindred, which denotes that the individual is recognised by one of the states of the world as one of its nationals. This will form part of the enquiry, assessment and decision in the generality of cases of this kind. Furthermore, it is appropriate to observe that most cases are likely to involve a significant measure of evaluative assessment, to be contrasted with stark fact finding, on the part of the decision making official.” Account was also taken of the decision of the Supreme Court in