(Lab): My Lords,
I thank the noble Lord for his explanation of the government
amendments. I have two questions. First, what would be the status
of people who have no passport: stateless people? Of course,
there are stateless people in refugee camps. There are, perhaps
preponderantly in refugee camps but also elsewhere, people who
have no recognised state.
Secondly, it so happens that I was in the West Bank in Palestine
last week. Palestinians who live in the West Bank are entitled to
a Jordanian passport. They are not entitled to an Israeli passport,
but they have an identity document as Palestinians in the West
Bank. That is a different category from the category of people
who are completely stateless. I am wondering whether the Minister
could explain how these two particular examples might be
accommodated within these government amendments.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice
() (Con): My Lords, I will, if
I may, look into the questions posed by the noble Lord, Lord
Ponsonby, and give a more precise answer. I think, just as an
initial answer, we are essentially dealing with nationals of a
country listed in proposed new Section 80AA of the Nationality,
Immigration and Asylum Act 2002, which is to be added by this
Bill. They are EU and EEA countries, together with Albania and
Switzerland. It is to those countries that this applies. The
provisions I referred to relate to EU countries, EEA countries,
Albania and Switzerland, and I do not think that they touch at
all on the situation of stateless persons in particular, or those
who hold a Jordanian but not an Israeli passport,
et cetera...
