CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
Under-age work in order to survive; for older children and young adults, limited
or no access to lawful employment or careers that require nationality and/or
identity documentation
Child marriage (especially of girls), sometimes in order to seek security for the
child and/or family
CHAPTER III
Trafficking, exploitation, forced recruitment into armed groups, sexual abuse
and other harms
Limited or no access to justice
Forced displacement (internal or international), especially in contexts of mass
arbitrary deprivation or denial of nationality
CHAPTER IV
Loss of culture, language, or identity (often linked to forced displacement)
Inability to travel lawfully across borders, denial of educational and other
opportunities, and in some contexts, risks related to staying in unsafe areas
Family separation
CHAPTER V
Inability of stateless parents to officially marry, with impacts for children
Inability of stateless parents to own property, access bank accounts and other
financial institutions, or take lawful employment, leaving children in poverty and
insecurity
CHAPTER VI
Inability of stateless parents and older children (where eligible) to participate
fully in democratic processes such as voting, leaving them disadvantaged
Social/political tensions or armed conflict relating to statelessness, sometimes
leading to displacement, instability and psychological and/or physical harm
CHAPTER VII
Arbitrary harassment by police, arrest and detention, sometimes for lengthy
periods and/or on multiple occasions51
51
See e.g., Background Note on Sex Discrimination in Birth Registration, UNHCR, UNICEF, 6 July 2021; UNHCR,
I Am Here, I Belong; OSCE and UNHCR, Handbook on Statelessness in the OSCE Area; The Child’s Right to
a Nationality and Childhood statelessness: Texts and Materials, UNICEF, ISI, 2020.
ANNEXES
25
RECOMMENDATIONS
All or most of these harms are avoidable, and the seriousness of the consequences
of childhood statelessness should motivate OSCE participating States to adopt good
practices to prevent and address childhood statelessness as a matter of urgency.