Addressing statelessness in Europe’s refugee response Key challenges and opportunities A range of challenges were identified by regional actors, including many of those already noted by interviewees in the three research countries. RISE and UNHCR spoke at length about the misrecording of nationality status on arrival in Greece. Challenges relating to nationality screening on arrival were also raised by Frontex and identified as an area where clear guidance and capacity building were required. The overlapping mandates of national and regional authorities was felt to be at the root of some of these challenges, with a lack of regional guidance being a key gap, as well as diverging administrative practices across national bodies, such as differing nationality assessments made by the police and asylum service, or differing practices in recording nationality status. Interviewees felt that sensitisation and awareness-raising at the level of frontline officers was not necessarily the answer, with a need for engagement with middle and senior managers, as well as at a political level, to influence more systemic change and recognition of statelessness as a protection issue. It was suggested that there were a range of factors incentivising identification (or not) of statelessness on arrival, including that nationality status determines how people are routed through the system, including whether they are deemed eligible for readmission to Turkey, or fasttracked through an accelerated asylum procedure. ‘…there is a collective sort of pressure on the Greek Police, Frontex, everyone else, just because the whole system is configured with the aim of facilitating returns and that puts pressure on everybody…’ (UNHCR) ‘…when [a refugee] arrives on a border in Greece…when they are asked ‘where are you from’, they might say… ‘I have come from Syria’. 'And what is your nationality'; and when they say, ‘I don't have a nationality’, the authorities say ‘no, it's not possible; you have to tell me your nationality’, and the authorities are insisting on a nationality and they have to say something otherwise they will … not get their papers or their…registration that is needed from the first stage. … Also, with couples…where the wife is stateless, but when she says she doesn't have a nationality, the authorities don't accept it and write the nationality of the husband as the nationality of the wife. We have faced this many times in Greece.’ (RISE) ECRE also mentioned the challenge of an increasing enforcement and returns approach by European authorities and said that a common case profile arising in its members’ work was young Palestinian single men who had been refused asylum and were seeking other legal pathways to protection. The lack of statelessness determination procedures, the lack of harmonisation between procedures for determining statelessness, and a general lack of information about the policies and practices of EU member states in this regard were noted as key challenges that required addressing. EASO said panregional research was required to better understand the current situation across member states, and ECRE, RISE and UNHCR said that legal solutions for affected individuals were lacking. RISE highlighted a constant requirement to present ‘documentation’ when accessing services even after being granted international protection. In Greece, for example, there was felt to be a capacity gap among officials at all levels, not just at registration, but also among gatekeepers to other services, 16