Strasbourg, 3 February 2000 [cdcj/cjna/na99/1stconference/report/acts confnat CONF/NAT (99) PRO 1 PROCEEDINGS CONFNAT 1st EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON NATIONALITY “TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS IN NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL LAW ON NATIONALITY” (Strasbourg, 18 and 19 October 1999) PROCEEDINGS 2 3 CONTENTS Page Foreword.......................................................................................................................5 OPENING SPEECHES Hans Christian Krüger, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe..................9 Cornelia Sonntag-Wolgast, Secretary of State in the German Ministry of Interior ....... 13 REPORTS 1. The European Convention on Nationality: is a European Code on Nationality possible? Rapporteur: Michel Autem ......................................................................................... 19 2. Multiple nationality Rapporteur: Giovanni Kojanec.................................................................................... 35 3. Developments in international law: the avoidance of statelessness through positive application of the right to a nationality Rapporteur: Carol Batchelor ....................................................................................... 49 4. Misuse of nationality laws Rapporteur: Andrew Walmsley................................................................................... 63 5. State succession and nationality Rapporteur: Zdzislaw Galicki ..................................................................................... 81 6. Citizenship-nationality: a proper balance between the interests of States and those of individuals Rapporteur: Mitja Zagar ............................................................................................. 93 7. The relevance of the European Convention on Nationality for non-European States Rapporteur: Norman Sabourin .................................................................................. 113 CONTRIBUTIONS Contribution from “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” Paper submitted by: Mirjana Lazarova-Trajkovska.................................................... 127 Contribution on the developments in the United Kingdom with particular reference to the Nationality Convention Paper submitted by: Laurie Fransman........................................................................ 129 Citizenship legislation in Bosnia and Herzegovina 4 Document submitted by: Anna-Lena Sjölund ............................................................ 133 Avoidance and reduction of statelessness: the Ukrainian experience.......................... 137 PROPOSALS ADOPTED BY THE CONFERENCE FOR FURTHER FOLLOW-UP ACTION BY THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE IN THE FIELD OF NATIONALITY presented by Margaret Killerby..................................................... 143 CONCLUSIONS BY THE GENERAL RAPPORTEUR, Roland Schärer ............ 145 CLOSING SPEECHES Lena Nyberg, Secretary of State in the Swedish Ministry of Culture.......................... 157 Guy De Vel, Director General of Legal Affairs, Council of Europe........................... 161 List of participants .................................................................................................. 169 5 I. FOREWORD 1. The theme of the 1st European Conference on Nationality, organised at the headquarters of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 18 and 19 October 1999, was “Trends and Developments in National and International Law on Nationality”. 2. The Council of Europe has been dealing with issues relating to nationality for over thirty years. Indeed, since 1963 both the Committee of Ministers and the Parliamentary Assembly have adopted numerous international instruments in this field (e.g. conventions, resolutions and recommendations). It is with the adoption on 14 May 1997 of the European Convention on Nationality (ETS 166) that the Council of Europe has made a fundamental contribution to the development of international law in this area. This Convention, which was opened for signature on 6 November 1997, consolidates, in a single text, the important issues relating to nationality. 3. The aim of the Conference, which was open to all persons with a professional interest in nationality matters, was to assist States to work together to find peaceful solutions in the field of nationality and to promote stability in the European States, as well as to consider important nationality issues for both individuals and States. 4. After the opening speeches by Mrs Cornelia SONNTAG-WOLGAST, Secretary of State in the German Ministry of Interior and Mr Hans Christian KRÜGER, Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, debates took place for two days on the following subjects: - The European Convention on Nationality: is a European Code on Nationality possible? Chair: Mr Ulrich HACK, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Austria to the Council of Europe Rapporteur: Mr Michel AUTEM, former Head of the Legal Department, Naturalisation Directorate, Reze (France), former member of the Committee of experts on nationality (CJ-NA) - Multiple nationality Chair: Mr Ulrich HACK, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Austria to the Council of Europe Rapporteur: Mr Giovanni KOJANEC, Professor, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome (Italy), member of the Committee of experts on nationality (CJ-NA) - Avoidance and reduction of statelessness Chair: Mr Benedetto CONFORTI, Judge, European Court of Human Rights Rapporteur: Mrs Carol BATCHELOR, General Legal Adviser, Division of International Protection, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), member of the Committee of experts on nationality (CJ-NA) - The misuse of nationality laws Chair: Mr Benedetto CONFORTI, Judge, European Court of Human Rights 6 Rapporteur: Mr Andrew WALMSLEY, former Head of the Nationality Directorate, Home Office, Liverpool (United Kingdom), former member of the Committee of experts on nationality (CJ-NA) - State succession and nationality Chair: Mr Gunnar JANSSON, Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Rapporteur: Mr Zdislaw GALICKI, Professor, Director of the Institute of International Law, University of Warsaw, Warsaw (Poland), Chair of the International Law Commission of the United Nations and of the Working Party of the Committee of experts on Nationality (CJ-NA-GT) of the Council of Europe - The need for a proper balance between the interests of States and those of individuals on questions relating to nationality Chair: Mr Gunnar JANSSON, Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Rapporteur: Mr Mitja ZAGAR, Professor, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) - The relevance of the European Convention on Nationality for non-European States Chair: Mr Roland SCHÄRER, Head of the Nationality Section, Federal Department of Justice and Police, Bern (Switzerland), Chair of the Committee of experts on nationality (CJ-NA) Rapporteur: Mr Norman SABOURIN, Registrar of the Canadian Citizenship, Ottawa (Canada) 5. After the presentation and debates on the above seven reports, a session was devoted to the proposals for further follow-up action by the Council of Europe and, in particular, by its Committee of experts on nationality (CJ-NA), a subordinate committee to the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ). These proposals were made by Mrs Margaret KILLERBY, Head of the Division of Private Law, Directorate General for Legal Affairs (DG I) of the Council of Europe. And adopted by the conference, finally, the main conclusions of the Conference were presented by the General Rapporteur of the Conference, Mr Roland SCHÄRER and adopted by the Conference. These conclusions referred in particular to the various interventions which were made during the Conference, highlighting the main ideas and suggestions expressed by the different speakers. 6. The closing speeches of the Conference were made by Mrs Lena NYBERG, Secretary of State in the Swedish Ministry of Culture and Mr Guy DE VEL, Director General of Legal Affairs, Council of Europe. 7. This text contains in particular the opening and closing speeches, the reports and papers presented by the Rapporteurs and the participants in the Conference, the proposals adopted by the Conference and the main conclusions of the Conference by the General Rapporteur. 7 OPENING SPEECHES 8 9 OPENING SPEECH By Hans Christian KRÜGER Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Mrs State Secretary, Ambassador, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great honour for me to welcome you to the Council of Europe and to open this Conference on nationality issues. Nationality – the legal bond between the individual and the State – is an essential factor at all levels of human life. Each of us, as individuals, would be deprived of an important part of our most fundamental rights if we did not have a nationality. Nationality is also an integral part of the identity of the State. But just as the identities of States are very different, so are the ways in which States have chosen to determine their nationals. If States were isolated from each other and if they co-existed in a static international community with little interaction between their populations, the determination of nationality might be an easy task of theoretical relevance only. But this is not the case. In our world there is increasing interaction between States, there are State successions and other kinds of change of sovereignty, there is growing movement of persons and there are