procedures to resolve documentation and citizenship issues can be prohibitive. 8 Access to the required knowledge to assert rights can also be limited due to lack of access to formal education and information channels. In this way, different forms of marginalisation and discrimination intersect and reinforce each other. The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the problem. Without civil status and health insurance many of those at risk of statelessness are excluded from medical and humanitarian aid as well as vaccination programmes. 9 The economic impact of the pandemic has hit marginalised communities hardest, including stateless populations. 10 Rates of gender-based violence have increased exponentially. 11 Longer-term consequences such as rising energy prices, restrictions on travel, and disruption of supply chains are also impacting on marginalised communities the hardest. For example, in a small Roma village in southern Albania, around 20 women and children live without civil status and proof of citizenship. They do not have access to healthcare, education, or other services. To resolve their civil and citizenship status would require a complex legal procedure, but most are unemployed and lack the knowledge and means to initiate the procedure. Their main source of income is informal work in other countries, but when the pandemic hit, migration was no longer an option. So, they remain without financial means of survival, with no access to social security, no education, and no healthcare. Action must be taken by States and regional institutions to guarantee equal nationality rights, address the toxic combination of marginalisation, bureaucratic and legal obstacles, and antigypsyism, otherwise these vicious cycles impacting Roma women and their families will continue as the risk of statelessness passes from generation to generation. It is important to recognise and resource the efforts of grassroots organisations, activists and networks to advocate on behalf of Romani communities affected by statelessness, to provide information, find lawyers, and deliver aid packages. These vital sources of community-based support, many of them led by women, must be resourced, valued, and integral to the solution. 2. BIRTH REGISTRATION AND PARENTAL RIGHTS Birth registration is key to the prevention of statelessness as it establishes the key facts required to determine a child’s nationality. 12 Lacking birth registration is not the same as being stateless, but it does increase the risk of statelessness. 13 In Europe, barriers to birth registration disproportionately impact on minoritized groups including Roma, refugees, and migrants. 14 Among Roma communities in the Western Balkans, lack of civil status, including birth registration, is one of the main causes of risk of statelessness. 15 ‘Roma Belong’ n7, 14. European Network on Statelessness, ‘Situation assessment of statelessness, health, and COVID-19 in Europe’ (21 April 2021) available at <Situation assessment of statelessness, health, and COVID-19 in Europe | European Network on Statelessness>. 10 CESF Consortium, ‘Together We Can. The COVID-19 Impact on Stateless People & A roadmap for Change’ (2021) 53 <together_we_can_report_2021.pdf (institutesi.org)>. 11 UNHCR, ‘Displaced and stateless women and girls at heightened risk of gender-based violence in the coronavirus pandemic’ (20 April 2020) available at: <UNHCR - Displaced and stateless women and girls at heightened risk of genderbased violence in the coronavirus pandemic>. 12 ENS, ‘Thematic Briefing: Birth registration and the Prevention of Statelessness in Europe’ (July 2020) < Thematic briefing: Birth registration and the prevention of statelessness in Europe | Statelessness Index>. 13 ‘Roma Belong’ n7, 33. 14 ‘Thematic Briefing. Birth Registration’ n12. 15 ‘Roma Belong’ n7, 22. 8 9