A stateless person is someone who, from a legal perspective, is not considered a citizen by any country. At first glance, it may seem that this issue is not widespread, and we might assume that not many people fall into this category. However, according to statistics from the Statelessness Index, there are almost half a million stateless people in Europe.
Editor -in -Chief
But how is it legally possible for someone not to be a citizen of any country? To explain this issue more clearly, we can provide several examples:
1. Border changes: One of the reasons that can lead to statelessness is the redrawing of borders. For example, in **Southeastern Europe**, after the dissolution of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, many people were displaced due to conflicts in the region. Lack of access to civil registration, and the inability to register births, left many individuals without identity documents, and none of the countries in the region recognized them as citizens.
2. The Sinti and Roma minorities: Due to their nomadic lifestyle, many Sinti and Roma people are not settled in one place, and in many cases, they are recognized as stateless.
3. War: Another major cause of statelessness is war. Imagine someone fleeing their country due to severe bombings, losing all their identity documents in the process. In a new country, they may apply for asylum, but without identity documents, and with no ability to obtain ones from their homeland, proving their identity becomes impossible. This situation creates a vicious cycle where the inability to prove identity results in rejection of the asylum request, and the inability to obtain new documents further exacerbates the issue.
4. Now, imagine that this stateless individual has a child. Even though this child is born in Europe, with a known place of birth, they inherit statelessness from their parents and, like them, are deprived of many basic rights. Many of these parents, despite having no identity documents themselves, struggle to obtain birth certificates or other identity documents for their children.
This issue is not uncommon in Europe. Some individuals, born in Europe, have lived in their country of birth for several decades and are now in middle age, yet they are still recognized as stateless. In practice, they cannot even claim that they exist.
“Tai Ha”, She has lived in the Netherlands since she was a child and she considers the country to be her home. To naturalize, she needs to present a Vietnamese passport. Despite her Vietnamese parentage,the Vietnamese Embassy has refused to issue one as they do not consider her a national,because she was not born in Vietnam. In the Netherlands, stateless persons do not have to present a passport in order to naturalize, but Thai Ha has not been recognized as a stateless person because there is no procedure in place to determine statelessness. Until Thai Ha is recognized as stateless she cannot naturalize and remains in limbo.
What is the situation in European countries?
Although nearly all European countries have signed international standards for the protection of stateless individuals, most of them still lack effective national frameworks to implement these obligations. As a result, many stateless individuals face daily discrimination and violations of their rights.
European countries have various internal procedures for dealing with statelessness. Even within the same country, procedures can vary from one city to another, which makes things even more difficult for stateless individuals.
Stateless people face numerous challenges that affect their daily lives. The lack of identification documents makes it difficult for them to access essential services such as healthcare and education. Additionally, they encounter serious obstacles when trying to find a job, access social benefits, and even get married. These challenges not only disrupt their individual lives but also negatively impact the quality of life for their families and communities. Women and children, in particular, are more vulnerable in these situations. There have been many cases where women, facing violence, have been unable to access support services due to the lack of identity documents.
Stateless individuals face discrimination and problems in many aspects of daily life, including finding housing and employment.
Since a significant part of the discrimination stateless individuals face is institutional, it is expected that, with the rise of right-wing political forces in European countries, life will become even more difficult for stateless individuals.
What International Actions Have Been Taken to Address This Issue?
– 1954 Convention:
This convention relates to the status of stateless persons and aims to provide basic rights to stateless individuals, such as access to employment, education, and identity documents, so they can live with dignity.
– 1961 Convention:
This convention focuses on reducing statelessness and offers solutions to prevent people from becoming stateless, such as granting citizenship to children who would otherwise remain stateless.
Some European countries, including Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Luxembourg, and Belgium, have followed the 1961 Convention’s guidelines to prevent statelessness among children. According to this convention, if a child is born to stateless parents in these countries, they automatically acquire citizenship by virtue of being born on the country’s soil. The main goal of these measures is to prevent the transmission of statelessness to future generations. In other countries, such as Germany, this issue remains unresolved, and subsequent generations continue to inherit their parents’ statelessness.
The EU Migration and Asylum Pact
The European Union’s Migration and Asylum Pact, introduced in September 2020, aims to create a comprehensive approach to managing migration and asylum in member states. The pact seeks to improve asylum processes, enhance cooperation with third countries, and facilitate better conditions for stateless individuals and those at risk of becoming stateless.
However, the implementation of this pact was delayed due to political complexities, the need for agreement among member states, and concerns over security and migration. Some countries, due to nationalist attitudes and resistance to accepting migrants, delayed the implementation of the pact. Additionally, disagreements about the distribution of responsibilities among member states slowed progress. since April 2024 this pact is being implemented and it is hoped that conditions for stateless individuals will improve.
