Briefing: Romani women’s activism and role in addressing statelessness in Europe By: European Network on Statelessness in collaboration with Romani women activists INTRODUCTION The European Network on Statelessness (ENS) is a civil society alliance of over 170 organisations and individuals working to address statelessness in 41 European countries. With the support of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung 1, ENS is working together with a group of Romani women activists 2 to explore and highlight the challenges that Romani women and girls face in relation to civil status, risk of statelessness, and equal nationality rights, and to propose solutions to these. Through our partnership, we aim to bring an intersectional perspective to work to address statelessness issues affecting Romani communities in Europe, 3 to platform Roma women’s voices and expertise, and to inform and influence change on issues they have identified as priorities. This briefing draws on a series of conversations with Roma women, as well as previous research, consultation, advocacy, and activism of all those involved in the initiative, including through the Balkan Roma Women’s Network. To be ‘stateless’ means not to be recognised as a national of any State under the operation of its law. 4 Discrimination often has a role to play in the causes of statelessness around the world. Nationality laws may be written or implemented in such a way as to exclude certain groups or make it more difficult for them to acquire or prove their nationality. Minoritized communities globally represent ‘a huge proportion’ of stateless people. 5 In Europe, due to State succession, displacement, complex civil registration systems, and deeprooted antigypsyism, many Romani people remain without civil status documentation and so 1 Sponsored by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung with funds of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany. The content of the publication is the sole responsibility of ENS and does not necessarily reflect the position of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung. 2 Michelle van Burik has been an advocate and activist in Roma grassroots organisations for 20 years; Sonja Barbul is an interpreter, translator, lifelong activist in the Roma movement, a role model for young Roma women and girls, and has worked for UNHCR’s regional civil registration project in the Western Balkans; Ina Majko is an Albanian Roma woman with a strong interest in the intersection between Roma rights and environmental issues. Her ambition is to enable Roma by creating fair eco-Roma representation in Europe; Brisilda Taco is a Roma rights activists and community mobiliser from Albania. She has organised protests for Roma access to socio-economic rights and participation in decision-making and has been active in Roma and non-Roma organisations at local and international level. She has been a facilitator for the Council of Europe’s ROMACTED programme since 2018 and in 2019 was awarded the “Unknown Heroes” EU Award for Roma Integration in the Western Balkan and Turkey. 3 Through its #RomaBelong initiative, ENS has worked with its members to improve international, regional, and national responses to Roma statelessness, with a particular focus on the Western Balkans and Ukraine, and to support Roma activists to advocate for their nationality rights. 4 According to Article 1(1) of the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons 1954, a stateless person is someone ‘who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law’. This definition is part of customary international law and has been authoritatively interpreted by UNHCR as requiring ‘a mixed question of fact and law’. 5OHCHR , ‘UN Expert Points to Global Statelessness as Minority Issue’ (23 October 22018, New York) <OHCHR | UN expert points to global statelessness as a minority issue>.