STATELESSNESS, DISCRIMINATION AND MARGINALISATION OF ROMA IN ALBANIA ward and does have a birth notification, but his sex is recorded as ‘hermaphrodite’. Eni’s parents explain that they have not registered him because the law does not provide any option to register the sex other than “male” or “female”. The parents say they feel ashamed about their child’s biological situation and they have kept this secret from other family members and the community they live in. They say that they want their child to identify as male and they have raised him like that. They have not registered him in school yet –mainly because they fear their child will not be accepted because he lacks identity documents. They say that this is not a matter of nationality, but instead a matter of birth registration. But Eni remains at risk of being stateless, a victim of social and also familial prejudice. Tana is a Romani woman coming from a city located in Southeast Albania. She is married with two children. She has never been registered because her mother gave birth outside the maternity ward. She lived abroad for many years and has used false documents. Her life has been very difficult and no one from her family ever managed to have her birth registered. Fatime is a sixty-four-year-old Romani woman from a city located in central Albania. She is the grandmother of two children aged seventeen and fourteen. Her grandchildren were born out of wedlock. The father never acknowledged paternity. The children were born in France where Fatime’s daughter was living for many years. After Fatime’s daughter returned to Albania with her children some years ago, she died in an accident. Fatime took the children into her care. They now live in Albania and Fatime is facing difficulties having them registered. She managed to get some documents from France, but found that her daughter had used a false identity. Therefore, Fatime cannot prove her relationship to the children, as the authorities are demanding valid documents. Fatime receives social support but the officials have warned her that if she does not register the children they will suspend her welfare payments. 5