11 | Training handbook . Statelessness 1. Introduction 2. Guidance 3. Legal context (...) 4. Research strategy 5. Appendices There are various examples of persons who are at risk 2.3 Overlap between statelessness and of statelessness, including: refugeehood Children born to stateless parents: Ö Children who are born to stateless parents or parents whose nationality is not acknowledged by the state may be at risk of becoming stateless themselves because they may not immediately inherit their parents' nationality. Refugees and asylum seekers: Ö Refugees and asylum seekers who are unable to prove their nationality or who have been stripped of their nationality by their home country may also be at risk of statelessness. Some stateless individuals may become refugees, and some refugees may become stateless. Despite the fact that the majority of stateless people remain in their country of habitual residence, some do not and end up migrating or fleeing. For instance, a stateless person may be forced to flee their country of habitual residence due to persecution or violence and subsequently qualify as a refugee. On the other hand, a refugee may lose their nationality while seeking asylum in another country, either due to the laws of their country of origin or the inability to establish their nationality. Stateless people who meet the criteria for refugee status under the 1951 Refugee Convention are protected. Persons affected by administrative errors: Ö Administrative errors or omissions in the registration of births or citizenship can also lead to statelessness, particularly for vulnerable populations This overlap between statelessness and refugeehood is such as refugees, migrants, or those living in conflict highlighted by Colin Yeo, a leading immigration barrister, in his recent book, Refugee Law: zones. Ethnic or religious minorities: Ö Ethnic or religious minorities who are discriminated against or excluded from citizenship by the state may also be at risk of statelessness. Nomadic groups: Ö Groups with no fixed abode and who cross international borders, such as the Roma in Europe, might face difficulties in proving their links to any one state. Individuals affected by state succession: Ö When a state breaks up, merges, or undergoes significant territorial changes (e.g., the dissolution of Yugoslavia, the USSR, and Czechoslovakia), populations may find themselves living in a new state and might not automatically receive citizenship from the new entity. “[...] one of the major problems faced by a refugee is that they are de facto (effectively) stateless. A refugee is, by definition, outside their country of origin and has lost the protection of that country, leaving them without ‘the right to have rights’ in a system of sovereign nation-states. But, formally, a refugee will often retain the nationality of their country of origin. Some refugees may also be de jure (in law) stateless, as is recognised in the definition itself in the reference to a person ‘who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence’. However, it is not necessary for a refugee to also be stateless. As the preamble to the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons 1954 (‘Stateless Persons Convention’) observes, there are many stateless persons who are not refugees. Indeed, many are stateless within the country in which they were born and still reside.” 21 21. Colin Yeo: Refugee Law, see pgs.78-79, 2022 © Asylos, 2023 Back to contents