Background Statelessness and the Right to Health Statelessness was described by António Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) in 2011, as the world’s “most forgotten human-rights problem” (van Gilder Cooke, 2011). Article 1 of the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons defines a stateless person as “a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law“. UNHCR estimates there are millions of stateless people in the world, but the true extent of statelessness globally is unknown, as fewer than half of countries submit data on their stateless populations. 1 Some people are born stateless, whilst others become stateless over the course of their lives. The main causes of statelessness include discrimination (including antigypsyism), gaps or conflicts in nationality laws, state succession, and deprivation of nationality. When a person lacks a nationality, they lack the rights and duties attached to belonging to a State, which leads to violations of many other human rights, including the right to health. 2 According to the World Health Organization, “the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being”, with “health“ being defined as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”. 3 The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) refers to health as part of the right to an adequate standard of living (Article 25), which is also recognised in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Article 12 ICESCR Situation assessment of statelessness, health, and COVID-19 in Europe 6