4 1 A CATALYST FOR ACTION: WORKING TO ADDRESS STATELESSNESS IN EUROPE ANNUAL REPORT 2017 1 5 OUR ACTIVITIES AND IMPACT HELPING TO SHAPE THE EU RESPONSE TO STATELESSNESS #STATELESSKIDS – CAMPAIGNING TO END CHILDHOOD STATELESSNESS We have continued to utilise the advocacy channels and relationships that we have developed with key actors working at the EU level and to advocate for statelessness to be addressed in new instruments relating to EU asylum and migration policy, including the draft Asylum Procedures Regulation. Following joint advocacy by ENS and UNHCR we were pleased to see that the European Commission have taken on board statelessness-related suggestions we made regarding the revised Returns Handbook. ENS also issued a public statement to Slovakia and Malta ahead of their respective EU Presidencies and contributed at various high-profile events including the EU’s Annual Child Rights Forum in Brussels. The only thing I can do is just watch. I’m a human being but I’m like a bird in a cage, looking out at everyone, watching them and everything go by. All I can do is watch. STATELESS MAN, FROM KUWAIT LIVING IN THE UK LANDMARK HEARING IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR BOLD ACTION TO ADDRESS STATELESSNESS In June the European Parliament’s Justice and Home Affairs Committee and Petitions Committee held the first ever hearing on statelessness in the European Parliament. The hearing which came about as a direct result of ENS #StatelessKids petition signed by over 22,000 supporters gave us and other invited experts the opportunity to set out a blueprint for European Union action to tackle statelessness. BUILDING IMPETUS WITH THE EMN PLATFORM ON STATELESSNESS In January, the European Migration Network (EMN), UNHCR and ENS organised a conference entitled “Addressing Statelessness in the European Union” focusing on two themes: the identification and protection of stateless people, and preventing childhood statelessness. Key speakers included a representative of the Maltese Presidency of the EU, UNHCR’s Director for Europe and the Chair of EMN as well as representatives from the European Members of the European Parliament Commission, the European Parliament recognised this landmark hearing as and the EU’s Fundamental Rights an opportunity to now devise and Agency. ENS Director Chris Nash take forward a dedicated strategy for presented on the heightened risk addressing statelessness in a holistic of statelessness faced by refugee way. Following the hearing, the Chairs of both Committees sent a joint letter and migrant children born in exile. The conference also featured an to the European Commission asking exhibition of Greg Constantine’s them to outline their intentions to develop an EU-wide strategy to address Nowhere People photos prepared in collaboration with ENS. statelessness and fill gaps in the EU’s record on this issue to date. Top of the page: Brussels, June 2017 – the hearing on statelessness in the European Parliament was a good example of why our awareness raising campaigns such as #StatelessKids and #LockedinLimbo are key to winning over new allies Left: Brussels, January 2017 – one year after the EU Council Conclusions on Statelessness, the EMN, UNHCR and ENS conference took stock of collective efforts and identified further actions to address statelessness STATELESSNESS, DISCRIMINATION AND MARGINALISATION OF ROMA DLA Piper, Diakonie Flüchtlingsdienst and ENS published a new report in June on the issue of childhood statelessness in Austria, shedding light on Austria’s international obligations on the prevention and reduction of statelessness, along with the provision in Austrian nationality laws to protect children born in the country or to Austrian citizens abroad from statelessness. The report was launched at an event in Vienna in June attended by high-ranking government representatives, civil society organisations and UNHCR. INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY Statelessness is fundamentally a human rights issue and one of the ways in which we seek to tackle it is through advocacy and engagement with human rights mechanisms. In partnership with the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion and our national members, we have made submissions to the UN’s Universal Periodic Review process on Germany, Serbia, Switzerland, Ukraine and Russian Federation, as well as a joint alternative report on Serbia submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. ANNUAL REPORT 2017 1 6 Vienna, June 2017 – ENS report builds on the ENS #StatelessKids campaign, adding to calls for states to amend their nationality laws to bring them fully in line with international obligations, and protect children from a life on the margins of society Our advocacy helped secure the inclusion of an action on every child’s right to a nationality in the action plan on migrant and refugee children recently published by the Council of Europe Secretary General’s Special Representative on Migration and Refugees. ENS Director Chris Nash was subsequently invited to present expert evidence at a meeting of the Council of Europe Committee on Legal Cooperation in October intended to help the Committee of Ministers decide a process to implement this action. DEVELOPING A NEW ONLINE STATELESSNESS INDEX Our new Statelessness Index, launched in March 2018 is an online tool that provides extensive country by country analysis of law, policy and practice. Each country’s performance is benchmarked against international norms and good practice and then assessed using five categories, ranging from the most positive to the most negative. The Index allows users to quickly understand which areas of law, policy and practice can be improved by states and which can be looked to as examples of good practice in addressing statelessness. In 2017, together with its members and partners, ENS started to collect and analyse data on 12 countries. The research behind the Index relies on the extensive knowledge and expertise of the ENS membership and forms the backbone of the online tool. ENS intends to increase the coverage of the Index, with six more countries to be added by the end of 2018. We will also continue to work with our members and partners to develop other useful resources from the Index data, such as policy briefings, training packages, and awareness raising materials. http://index.statelessness.eu WHY EUROPE MUST END DETENTION OF STATELESS PEOPLE