8 | Training handbook . Statelessness 1. Introduction 2. Guidance 3. Legal context (...) 4. Research strategy 5. Appendices The importance of understanding this distinction is also further highlighted in this Doctoral Thesis by Caia Vlieks:9 “I am 30 years old, and a month ago I got my first passport.” “In academic literature as well as in reports on statelessness, a distinction is sometimes made between statelessness in situ (i.e. in the original place) and statelessness in a migratory context.32 These terms are used to indicate a difference in the situation and context in which statelessness occurs, and also say something about the level of attachment of a stateless person to the country where he or she resides.33 – Maha Mamo10 This is evident when attempting to provide definitions for the two concepts. Statelessness in situ concerns persons who remain stateless in their ‘own country’, often since birth and thus (usually) in a non-migratory context. Their situation is characterized by the fact that they are long-standing residents or were residents at the time of state succession and they have (personal and/or family) ties to the country, which they have with no other country. Persons who are stateless in a migratory context are migrants or have a migratory background with no or no significant ties to the country they live in (yet).”34 32 Eg Laura van Waas, ‘Stateless Children’ in Jacqueline Bhabha, Jyothi Kanics & Daniel Senovila Hernández, Research Handbook on Child Migration (Edward Elgar Publishing 2018) 213–228, 213; Gábor Gyulai, ‘Statelessness in the EU Framework for International Protection’ (2012) 14 European Journal of Migration and Law 279, 279–280; Mark Manly, ‘UNHCR’s Mandate and Activities to Address Statelessness in Europe’ (2012) 14 European Journal of Migration and Law 261. 33 Caia Vlieks, ‘Contexts of Statelessness. ! e Concepts ‘Statelessness in situ’ and ‘Statelessness in the Migratory Context’ in Tendayi Bloom, Katherine Tonkiss & Phillip Cole, Understanding Statelessness (Routledge 2017) 35–52, 36. 34 Ibid 35–52, 50. “Invisible.” “Excluded.” “Worthless.” These are just a few of the phrases that stateless people frequently use to describe themselves, as highlighted by Dr. Dagmar Enkelmann Chair of the Executive Board, RosaLuxemburg-Stiftung in the Atlas of the Stateless11, published in October 2020. People who are stateless face serious consequences, as statelessness may render them unseen in their society, depriving them of access to fundamental human rights such as: • • • • • • Healthcare Education Marriage Freedom of movement Employment Political participation Another factor that contributes to their invisibility is lack of reliable data. Because stateless persons are not a homogenous group, data is required to understand not only the number of stateless people in a country but also who they are and what their protection needs are, but this data is frequently hard to come by. Although the primary responsibility for identifying stateless people lies with the state, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is mandated to identify stateless individuals as well. According to the UNHCR's Global Trends report for 2021, there are 4.3 million stateless people worldwide.12 And Palestinians, Rohingya, Roma, Nubians, Bidoon, and Yao are populations who are at high risk of statelessness. 9. Vlieks, C. (2022). Nationality and statelessness in Europe: European law on preventing and solving statelessness. [Doctoral Thesis, Tilburg University]. Intersentia 10. You can learn more about Maha Mamo and her activism and advocacy work on stateless via her website at: https://youtu.be/RzffChmXKyA 11. Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Atlas of the Stateless, see p.32, October 2020 12. UNHCR, Global Trends Report 2021, see p.4, 2021 © Asylos, 2023 Back to contents