The Indefinite Statelessness of Refugees in Denmark and Sweden : Comparing the Impacts of the Temporary Asylum Laws

• The paper is part of a wider research project which seeks to explore the nexus between statelessness and refugee-ness at global, national and individual level. The relationship between the two legal concepts has not received much attention. This is surprising given that one in ten refugees globally are believed to be stateless. To begin to unpack this relationship, Denmark and Sweden are used as case studies. This article sets out an initial law and policy analysis of the national level frameworks related to identifying statelessness in the Danish and Swedish asylum system, or addressing it following the acceptance of a refugee. This will be discussed in relation to how these contribute to, or address, the situation of indefinite statelessness for stateless refugees. Further to this, the paper seeks to draw out the impacts of the temporary asylum laws in both states with regard to the barriers stateless refugees face in acquiring citizenship. Issues such as cessation of refugee status, the undeportability of some former refugees who are stateless and instances of arbitrary detention are discussed in relation to Denmark and Sweden’s international obligations under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.

Nyckelord

Stateless refugees

Denmark

Sweden

statelessness determination procedure

temporary asylum laws

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

rap (ämneskategori)