HIERARCHIES OF STATELESSNESS IN GERMANY
KAUTHER ALHUSAINY,* MARGARIDA FARINHA,** WALA’ HUSSAM MAAITAH***
AND ALEKSANDRA SEMERIAK GAVRILENOK****†
This article argues that the categorisation practice of ‘undetermined nationality’ produces a
hierarchy of statelessness that results in the inadequate fulfilment of Germany’s international
obligations to protect stateless people. This categorisation practice is maintained through the
absence of a statelessness determination procedure, discriminatory legal frameworks and
problematic discretionary administrative practices. The article draws on eight semi-structured,
in-depth interviews conducted in March and April 2024 with people with lived experience of
statelessness in Germany. It illustrates how different categories of statelessness affect individuals
in their everyday self-realisation, career prospects, wellbeing and political participation. It offers
testimonies from different generations of stateless individuals, evidencing how statelessness is not
a static legal anomaly, but a dynamic, bureaucratically and legally manufactured spectrum of legal
stratification and exclusion. These testimonies also show that if Germany does not implement a
statelessness determination procedure it will continue to avoid its responsibilities, failing to
comply with international obligations and contributing to human rights violations.
*
Kauther Alhusainy is a doctoral researcher at the Law Faculty of the University of Oxford,
with an academic interest in decolonial approaches to law. Her work examines questions of
racism in contemporary adjudication practices in citizenship related trials in Germany.
** Margarida Farinha is a political anthropologist whose research examines statelessness,
citizenship and political subjectivity. She is co-founder and head of research at Statefree.
*** Dr Wala’ Hussam Maaitah is a social psychologist and researcher focusing on intergroup
relations, forced migration, and statelessness. She investigates the intersections of conflict,
displacement, and public health.
**** Aleksandra Semeriak Gavrilenok is a political scientist specialising in migration, statelessness,
asylum and human rights and an Associate Lecturer at Esade Ramon Llull University. She
serves as the Vice Chair of the European Network on Statelessness (‘ENS’).
†
Ethics approval through a university of research institution was not sought. All participants
provided written informed consent prior to the interview for the anonymous use of the
information shared during the interview. The consent was obtained for this specific
participatory action research, which includes the development of a statelessness determination
procedure prototype. All names in the paper are pseudonyms. Responses were registered
ensuring anonymity, privacy, confidentiality, and data protection according to Regulation (EU)
2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the Protection
of Natural Persons with Regard to the Processing of Personal Data and on the Free
Movement of Such Data, and Repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection
Regulation) [2016] OJ L 116/1, art 6(1)(a).
We would like to thank all interview participants for generously sharing their time and
experiences. We are grateful to our research assistants, Julika Likus and Samira Eissa, for
their valuable support with transcription, administrative and editorial tasks. We further thank
the anonymous reviewers and the editors of the Statelessness and Citizenship Review for their
careful reading and constructive suggestions.
This work was co-funded by the European Union through the Asylum, Migration and
Integration Fund (‘AMIF’) and generously supported by the Hans Sauer Stiftung and Robert
Bosch Stiftung. The content of this publication represents the sole views of the authors, and
the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information
contained herein.
© 2025 The Authors. This is an open-access article licensed under a Creative Commons
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