Everything you need to know about statelessness

Romania’s stateless children – still unknown, still invisible

When I started working on statelessness in 2009 I was told by more experienced colleagues from civil society organizations, as well as by public…

Fighting for children’s right to nationality in Europe

“When is it in the best interests of the child to be stateless? Never!” With these 14 words, Renate Winter, Member of the UN Committee on the Rights…

States as a root cause of statelessness

What is the root cause of statelessness? There are many answers to this question – conflict of nationality laws, gender discrimination, persecution…

A look back at seven years at the helm of UNHCR’s Statelessness Section

When it comes to issues of forced displacement, there is a massive amount of doctrine, operational guidance and academic writing. There are a range…

Using the UPR to address statelessness

The United Nations Human Rights Council has a system of 'Universal Periodic Review' (UPR) which covers all member states of the UN.  This means that…

The right to a legal identity or the right to a legal ID?

Proposed target 16.9 of the soon-to-be-adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reads: Provide legal identity to all, including birth…

Jus Soli: A miraculous solution to prevent statelessness?

Granting nationality at birth to children born on the territory of a country – the “jus soli” principle – is often seen as an effective tool to…

Thoughts on Strategic Litigation: Can EU law prevent and reduce Roma statelessness in Europe?

The Court of Justice famous weighed in several years ago on the relevance of EU law to situations where EU citizens are made stateless (Case C-135/08…

Stateless persons in Iceland, rarer than the Northern Lights?

Iceland, with a population of 322,000 people, is about 1500 kilometers away from its closest neighbor on the European continent. It is a land of…

Hungarian Constitutional Court declares that lawful stay requirement in statelessness determination breaches international law

Until now, only lawfully staying persons could initiate a statelessness determination procedure in Hungary. After nearly eight years of struggle…

Legally Invisible in Serbia

Just outside the front door of their shack in an informal Roma settlement in central Belgrade, Serbia, 15-year-old Deni and his six brothers and…

Why Malta needs to accede to the UN Statelessness Conventions

“If I was granted citizenship now, it would be like having been inside this room for twelve years [referring to a very small and crammed counselling…