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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…
/ Katja Swider, University of Amsterdam
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Statelessness determination procedure in Italy: who bears the burden of proof?

The Italian Court of Cassation has recently ruled on a case concerning the statelessness determination procedure (Court of Cassation No. 4262 of 3…
/ Giulia Bittoni, University of Burgundy and University of Bologna
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Statelessness in Ireland – international obligations and national reality

Ireland has adopted a somewhat incoherent approach in matters related to international conventions.  Sometimes, Ireland will not sign or ratify a…
/ Catherine Cosgrave, Managing Solicitor at the Immigrant Council of Ireland
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Do stateless people have a right to die?

It was in October last year (2014) when Tereza, the long-term partner of my stateless client, came to my office and said to me: “Roman is in hospital…
/ Katarína Fajnorová, The Human Rights League, Slovakia
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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…
/ Cecilie Becker-Christensen Saenz Guerrero, UNHCR Regional Representation for Northern Europe, and Inge Sturkenboom, Protection Officer, UNHCR Bureau for Europe
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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…
/ Gábor Gyulai, Refugee Programme Coordinator at the Hungarian Helsinki Committee
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Statelessness in Italy: What’s next?

“It is time to give voice to the strangers among strangers”. With these words, journalist Gad Lerner introduced the first public meeting on…
/ Héléna Behr and Silvia Loschiavo. UNHCR Regional Representation for Southern Europe
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Finland – a champion in the making in addressing statelessness?

The UNHCR study Mapping Statelessness in Finland was launched on 18 November, following similar studies already published in a number of European…
/ Anne Laakko, UNHCR
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A welcome first step towards tackling statelessness in Poland

This year Poland celebrates 25 years of freedom, an anniversary marked by the country’s first democratic vote, the end of communist regime and…
/ Katarzyna Przybysławska, Director of the Halina Niec Legal Aid Centre
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“A small step, perhaps, but a move in the right direction to help 600,000 people find somewhere to call home”

This is how CNN reported on the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) campaign to protect stateless persons in Europe after we handed over our…
/ Chris Nash - Director, European Network on Statelessness
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Should nationality have a “minimum content”? – Italian Supreme Court passes landmark decision

With only a handful of countries operating a statelessness determination procedure, it is not very often that a national court passes a judgment of…
/ Gábor Gyulai, Refugee Programme Coordinator at the Hungarian Helsinki Committee
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Act now and help protect stateless people across Europe!

When meeting a stateless person what is often so very striking is their understandable bewilderment about the situation they have been unlucky…
/ Chris Nash, ENS Coordinator