Legal briefing: Statelessness and the right to respect for private and family life October 2024 To be stateless is to have no nationality,1 and for the millions of stateless people around the world, this can result in widespread denial of human rights and undermine the universal human right to a nationality. It is therefore crucial that States put in place mechanisms to protect stateless people and prevent statelessness, in line with their international obligations. However, most countries in Europe are yet to introduce a dedicated statelessness determination procedure (SDP),2 and several countries that have an SDP have shortcomings in the procedure or in the protection subsequently afforded to people recognised as stateless. This results in a failure to uphold the rights of stateless people, leaving many facing years of uncertainty, poverty, social exclusion, risks of arbitrary immigration detention, lack of access to economic and social rights, and other human rights violations. The courts play an important role at national, regional, and international level in developing and effectively implementing the right to a nationality and the human rights of stateless people. Recognising that role, this briefing outlines how statelessness interferes with the right to respect for private and family life and how the courts can uphold that right. The nexus between nationality, statelessness, and the enjoyment of private and family life has been increasingly recognised by regional courts at the European level, with the potential for this nexus to be developed further. In Section 1, this briefing draws on the international and regional legal framework relating to statelessness, as well as its connection to the right to respect for private and family life. In Section 2, the briefing turns to consider the jurisprudence of regional courts on the right to respect for private and family life, with a focus on the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). This section is approached thematically and sets out how the jurisprudence from regional courts can reflect States obligations regarding, inter alia, the protection of stateless people, upholding children’s right to a nationality and birth registration, implementing effective and accessible routes to regularisation, and preventing the arbitrary denial of nationality. In Section 3, the briefing examines the application of the right to respect for private and family life in domestic jurisprudence across European countries, illustrating the relevance of regional standards in national contexts. Legal practitioners are encouraged to consult complementary resources and stay up to date on developments, including the Statelessness Case Law Database, the Litigation The words “national” and “nationality” have various meanings, in some contexts referring to a shared identity, sometimes based on race, ethnicity, language, religion, or affinity and connection to a particular place, people, or political identity. Nationality also has a legal meaning under international law and is often considered equivalent to the meaning of ‘citizenship’ in domestic law. In this briefing, except where otherwise specified, references to nationality mean nationality solely in the legal sense: the formal bond of a person to a particular State, with the rights and duties inherent in belonging to that State. 2 European Network on Statelessness (ENS), Statelessness Determination and Protection in Europe, September 2021. 1 2