ANNUAL REPORT 2016 1 5 If we are to achieve our common goals to tackle statelessness in Europe it is vital that ENS and UNHCR continue their strong collaboration. It is a model that has already helped inspire the creation of regional networks elsewhere as part of an emerging global coalition helping us deliver on the #IBelong Campaign to end statelessness in 10 years. VOLKER TURK, ASSISTANT HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR PROTECTION, UNHCR ADVOCATING THROUGH UN HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS STATELESSNESS AND MINORITY GROUPS IN EUROPE Statelessness is fundamentally a human rights issue and one of the ways in which we seek to tackle it is through advocacy and engagement with human rights mechanisms. In partnership with the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion and our national members, we have made submissions this year to the UN’s Universal Periodic Review process on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, as well as to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on Serbia and Estonia. In July, we staged a two-day workshop in Belgrade to kick off an exciting new joint project with the European Roma Rights Centre and the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion. The project aims to strengthen the understanding, attitudes and capacity of Roma rights organisations and activists to effectively mobilise to end Roma statelessness. Research findings will be published in 2017 as a platform for concerted advocacy aimed at achieving improved regional and national responses. Geneva, October 2016 – ENS Youth Ambassador Ivan Kochovski spoke at the UNHCR #IBelong anniversary event, alongside the High Commissioner Filippo Grandi and Honorary Lifetime Goodwill Ambassador Barbara Hendricks. (Photo: UNHCR/Susan Hopper) SUPPORTING AN EMERGING GLOBAL CIVIL SOCIETY COALITION TO END STATELESSNESS Throughout 2016, we continued to take strategic advantage of the profile and media interest generated through UNHCR’s #IBelong campaign which seeks to eradicate statelessness within a decade. ENS is coordinating European civil society’s contribution to the campaign. We have continued to share our experience with other developing regional networks, including at a global NGO statelessness retreat in Geneva in June 2016. We also arranged a bilateral meeting with UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner Volker Turk to discuss key concerns and strategies, also attended by representatives from other regional networks. LITIGATING FOR CHANGE Another key component of our law and policy work in 2016 has been the continued development and implementation of a three-year strategic litigation strategy, including through a dedicated working group. In January, ENS launched a challenge in the Serbian Constitutional Court to contest barriers to birth registration in partnership with the European Roma Rights Centre and Praxis Serbia. Working to prevent statelessness through improved access to birth registration is a key component of our #StatelessKids campaign. In July, ENS convened a dedicated litigation training workshop for 15 members . We also provided funding to members in Bulgaria and the Netherlands to identify and develop an ‘incubator’ of cases suitable for strategic litigation with a focus on arbitrary detention.