5 I cannot go anywhere. I cannot go back to Bangladesh because I only had a temporary legal stay in a refugee camp. I cannot go back to Myanmar because my nationality has been withdrawn. RASHID, A STATELESS PERSON BORN IN MAUNGDAW, MYANMAR NATASHA RASHID Natasha was trafficked to Slovakia in 1991 and forced into prostitution. She was born and had lived her entire life in a region of the former USSR (Soviet Socialist Republic of Ukraine) which in 1991 became Moldova. Despite escaping her captors, she thereafter spent almost 20 years in Slovakia as an irregular migrant with no documents. She tried to contact the Moldovan Embassy to obtain documentation and proof of nationality but this was located in Vienna and she was not able to cross the border without a passport. Her letters to the Embassy had no effect. She applied for asylum several times but always without a result. She was detained repeatedly while the police unsuccessfully tried to deport her from Slovakia. Hardest of all, her two children – both Slovak citizens – were placed in care without her consent while she was detained. This had a devastating impact on her. Following her release from a period in detention in 2011, based on appeals submitted, the court and later the Slovak authorities recognised that her deportation was not possibe while her citizenship was still undetermined. She was reunited with her children. Eventually in 2012 she was able to make use of a discretionary power enabling her to be granted permanent residence as a stateless person. After more than 22 years spent in Slovakia she was finally able to acquire all the necessary documents – a residence permit, travel document (Convention Travel Document) and health insurance card in order to get on with her life. However, Slovakia still lacks a dedicated statelessness determination procedure to protect all stateless migrants in this situation and to prevent their arbitrary detention. Rashid was born in Myanmar. He fled to Bangladesh aged 12 with his mother in 1992 after his father, who was a Muslim rights activist, was killed and his sister was arrested. He lived in Bangladesh for 20 years, first in a refugee camp and then in several villages. Before Rashid’s mother passed away in 2002 she explained to Rashid that he did not possess a valid identity document because the Rohingya of Myanmar had been deprived of their Myanmar nationality. Rashid travelled irregularly to the Netherlands in 2012. He applied for asylum twice and his request was refused both times. After the second rejection he was kept in immigration detention for 8 months. He was eventually released after being presented to the Bangladeshi and Myanmar authorities, both of which refused to accept him as a national. However, following his release he was unable to regularise his stay and he remains without status and sleeps in a homeless shelter. He has lived with instability his entire life and now finds himself alone in a foreign country suffering from nightmares, psychological issues and high blood pressure (even though he is still a young man). He cannot lead a normal life in the Netherlands but equally he cannot go and live anywhere else. Provided by the Human Rights League, Slovakia Provided by the Tilburg University Statelessness Programme