Why Union Law Can And Should Protect Stateless Persons 115 upon birth.50 This has the potential to halt the perpetuation of statelessness in these countries. Roma have also been disproportionately affected by state succession, because they often lack proper registration and documentation necessary to obtain proof of nationality. Statelessness often amplifies the social exclusion of Roma, as the lack of documentation hinders their access to education, health care, social assistance and the right to vote.51 Large numbers of stateless persons are reported to live in Central and Eastern Europe, and in particular the Western Balkans, but statelessness is also documented in Western European Roma communities who may either have moved there as refugees or migrants from mostly Eastern Europe, or have longstanding intergenerational ties to the countries concerned.52 A second category is formed by individuals born in Europe who became stateless due to conflicting nationality laws or gaps in nationality laws, such as provisions not permitting women to pass on their nationality to their children, lack of provisions on the nationality status of foundlings, or provisions limiting the ius soli acquisition of nationality for otherwise stateless children.53 Fortunately, most countries in Europe seriously try to avoid cases of statelessness from arising and much progress has been made in the last few decades in erasing gender-based discrimination in nationality laws, thereby reducing the situations in which children born abroad, out of wedlock and/or of mixed nationality parentage become stateless.54 A third category is formed by migrants and their offspring who either were stateless upon arrival or became stateless thereafter. Common profiles of stateless persons are, for example, Kuwaiti Bidoon and Palestinians in the United Kingdom,55 Palestinians and persons originating from Kosovo and Syria in 50 See, extensively: Djackova, S., ‘Statelessness among children in Latvia: current situation, challenges and possible solutions’, European Network on Statelessness blog, September 2014, available at http://www.statelessness.eu/blog/statelessness-amongchildren-latvia-current-situation-challenges-and-possible-solutions. 51 Council of Europe, Human Rights of Roma and Travellers in Europe, (Strasbourg, Council of Europe Publications, 2012), p. 184. 52  Ibid., p. 189. See for, example, a study on statelessness within Roma communities in Italy: CIR, In the Sun, Survey on the phenomenon of statelessness among Roma communities living in Italy, February 2013 (Rome, CIR, 2013), available at: http://www.cironlus.org/ images/pdf/’In%20the%20sun’_CIR_last%20review_final.pdf. 53 Vonk, O., M. Vink, G.-R. de Groot, Protection against statelessness: trends and regulations in Europe, EUI Working Paper (Florence, European University Institute, 2013), pp. 10–11. 54  Ibid., p. 105. 55  U NHCR, Mapping Statelessness in the United Kingdom (Geneva, UNHCR, 2011), p. 17. European Journal of Migration and Law 19 (2017) 101–135