Everything you need to know about statelessness

Let’s talk about the army

How is the army relevant to statelessness? Conscription, a compulsory participation of citizens in their states’ military, still exists in over 60…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…