Our members

Paolo is an accomplished lawyer in Italy with 20+ years of litigation experience in human rights, international, civil and commercial law. He is an expert in statelessness issues.

The Peace Institute – Institute for Contemporary Social and Political Studies – is a non-profit research institution developing interdisciplinary research activities in various fields of the social and human sciences (sociology, anthropology, political science, philosophy, economies, law etc.). The goal of the Institute is not only to adopt a critical stance towards events in the society but also to actively intervene in these events, to link academic research and reflection with practical educational and strategic advisory activities in various fields of public policy and public action in general. Consequently, the Institute has the status of a civil society non-governmental organisation. The institute undertook several research and advocacy projects on issues of citizenship, statelessness and the “erased people”, which is an issue specific for Slovenia related to the problem of deprivation of legal status, originating in the declaration of independence of the Republic of Slovenia.  

The People for Change Foundation is a Malta based, human rights organization focusing on research, lobbying an capacity building. Our key areas of work include: migration, asylum, trafficking, racism, children’s rights and youth participation. We work closely with other Maltese organizations as well as organizations and networks in various European countries and with other partners in other parts of the world. We support educational and research endeavors on migration related issues and seek to conduct our own high quality and policy relevant research. 

Philomène began her career in the education sector, teaching in various international schools and universities in Asia for twelve years. In 2015 she enrolled in a Diploma in Human Rights and Forced Displacement from UPeace with the strong desire to transition into the field of refugee rights advocacy. She is currently a candidate in the MA Refugee Protection & Forced Migration Studies at the University of London and an individual member of APRRN and IDC. In India, where she lived for nine years, she first became aware of the issue of statelessness in relation to the situation of Tibetan refugees in the country, with whom she worked as a volunteer teacher and advocate. In 2019, Philomène worked as a Protection Officer in Georgia, focusing on issues of protracted internal displacement concerning IDPs from Abkhazia. In this context, she also became aware of the prevalence of the issue of statelessness in a former Soviet country, and is particularly interested in the study of compounded issues of displacement and statelessness for IDPs and refugees. 

PIC – Pravni center za varstvo človekovih pravic in okolja

PIC is a non-governmental organisation focusing on the protection of human rights and the environment. The main areas of work include the protection of the rule of law, refugee and migration law, environmental law and protection of victims of discrimination. PIC provides free legal help and representation and conducts extensive advocacy, policy and awareness activities. 

Praxis is a non-governmental organization based in Belgrade, Serbia and dedicated to the protection and promotion of human rights. Since 2004, Praxis has focused on the issues most relevant to the displaced and members of vulnerable minority groups, such as the Roma community. One such issue is the plight of the many persons who are currently stateless, legally invisible and/or at a risk of statelessness in the Western Balkan region. Praxis has spear-headed a multi-tiered effort aimed at solving this problem, preventing and reducing statelessness, involving the advocacy for changes to law and practice, provision of free legal aid, to persons at risk, publishing human rights reports on the subject, and providing training and awareness raising. Praxis’ legal advocacy is informed by its general goals: the eradication of discrimination, poverty and racism, and a vibrant civil society shaped by democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.

The Public Law Project (PLP) is a national legal charity which aims to improve access to public law remedies for those whose access to justice is restricted by poverty or some other form of disadvantage. Within this broad remit PLP has adopted three main objectives:

(1) increasing the accountability of public decision-makers

(2) enhancing the quality of public decision-making

(3) improving access to justice. 

Uniquely for an organisation of its kind, PLP undertakes research, policy initiatives, casework and training across the range of public law remedies.
 

Rachel is a researcher specialised in the fields of citizenship and national security, and citizenship in France and the UK. She was awarded a PhD from the University of Bristol in February 2020 for her comparative, socio-legal inquiry into the practice of citizenship deprivation in the context of France and the UK. She holds an MSc in International law and international organisations and an LLM in International law, both from the University of the Sorbonne (Paris 1).
Away from her research, Rachel was a research & policy volunteer for the ENS in 2018. During her volunteering, she helped with the launch of the statelessness Index and monitored legal/policy developments on various ENS campaigns. She also volunteered for the Human Rights League of Paris for 2 years, where she provided specialist legal advice, support and guidance to individuals applying for French citizenship and other immigration status. 

Red Acoge is a nonprofit organization with a network made up of 20 Spanish associations working at local and regional level. We work on the issue of equality of treatment and non-discrimination from an interdisciplinary perspective. We inform and denounce Public policies and legislative changes, such as the above mentioned, raising awareness and disseminating relevant information. We provide social and legal assistance to victims of discrimination, as well as developing education and social integration projects to form an inclusive and multicultural society. We also work with other agencies to improve information and mechanisms regarding access to justice and data collection on the subject.

I have been working as a humanitarian worker for almost 10 years with different organizations starting with UNHCR in Syria as a case worker and then as a senior child protection officer . As a Palestinian refugee living in Syria it was hard to live within the bad security situation during the war so the only option I had is to flee to Netherlands where I was considered a stateless. Being identified as a stateless person was not easy and made me think that we should pay more attention to this group and identify the risks and problems for this group and trying to find solution and make more awareness among the communities about it. Especially that whenever I am asked about the status on my residence permit and and I say it is stateless people have no idea what it means . in my point of view , there should be more awareness about statelessness as a legal term and then more deep in assessment for stateless people to tackle the issues they face in the country of asylum.
Recently my activities has been with NEW WOMEN CONNECTORS and vluchtelingenwerk Eindhoven and this issue of statelessness is one of things that I am dealing with.