Childhood Statelessness i European Courts: An Avoidable Crisis 2. 5 Literature Review The phrase “strategic litigation” presents a complex concept without a universal definition. Typically, strategic litigation is pursued to effect political and social change by advancing a specific case, or set of cases, within carefully selected jurisdictions.6 The term has been employed within settings including the tobacco industry, climate change, and human rights. Some equate this concept with “impact”, “test case” or “public interest” litigation,7 and many may craft their own definition of strategic litigation.8 One of the most basic definitions – “going to court to protect human rights”9 – provides an appropriate umbrella for the purposes of this paper. Basic “litigation strategy” sometimes is confused with the broader concept of strategic litigation, as the former involves decisions attorneys face in every case, apart from any political or social movement.10 This paper is not concerned with the linguistics of how litigation is defined. Instead, this research explores cases involving childhood statelessness and the characteristics pertaining to successful or particularly harmful elements of these cases that may emerge. At times that may concern “strategic litigation” intended to shift the law, or instead it may concern litigation strategy on a more individual level. From whatever angle the litigators approached case elements, the lessons learned may apply to all childhood statelessness litigation irrespective of categorization. 2.1 Child Rights Litigation in Europe Considerable child rights litigation has been noted within the EU with an ever-increasing number of violations.11 Although this paper is concerned with childhood statelessness, there are benefits to paying attention to other areas of child rights litigation. This may be in the context of climate change litigation,12 access to education,13 access to health services,14 protection against discrimination,15 or protection against various criminal offenses.16 Child rights litigation also targets violations suffered by migrant and refugee children, many of whom are or become stateless.17 Sometimes rooted in the CRC, the European Convention 6 Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility, ‘Launching the Global Strategic Litigation Council for Refugee Rights. A Concept Note’ (2021) <https://zolberginstitute.org/initiatives/gslc/> accessed 20 January 2025; Open Society Justice Initiative, ‘Strategic Litigation Impacts: Insights from Global Experience’ (October 2018) <www.justiceinitiative.org/publications/strategic-litigation-impacts-insights-global-experience> accessed 20 January 2025. 7 Michael Ramsden and Kris Gledhill, ‘Defining Strategic Litigation’ (2019) 38(4), CJQ, 407, 409. 8 Kris van der Pas, ‘Conceptualising strategic litigation’ 11 Oñati Socio-Legal Series 6(S) S116. 9 Guy S. Goodwin-Gill, ‘Strategy and Strategic Litigation in the Protection of Refugees’ (1 April, 2022) <https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/ papers.cfm?abstract_id=4307234> accessed 17 March 2025 (citing Amnesty International, ‘Going to court to protect the rights of refugees and migrants: An overlooked tool for positive change’ (18 August 2020) <https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2020/08/going-to-court-toprotect-the-rights-of-refugees-and-migrants/> accessed 7 March 2025). 10 Ramsden & Gledhill (n 7). 11 Aoife Nolan, Ann Skelton, and Karabo Ozah, ‘Advancing Child Rights-Consistent Strategic Litigation Practice Executive Summary’ (2022) <https://www.acrisl.org/resources> accessed 17 March 2025; European Commission, ‘EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child’ (24 March 2021) <https://commission.europa.eu/document/86b296ab-95ee-4139-aad3-d7016e096195_en> accessed 11 March 2025; European Parliament, ‘Children’s rights in the EU: Marking 30 years of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child’ (November 2019) <https://www.europarl.europa. eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2019/644175/EPRS_BRI(2019)644175_EN.pdf> accessed 11 March 2025. 12 Elizabeth Donger, ‘Children and Youth in Strategic Climate Litigation: Advancing Rights through Legal Argument and Legal Mobilization’ (2022) 11 Transnational Environmental Law 263. 13 Filip Sys, ‘D.H. v. Czech Republic: Roma Educational Equality and the Vulnerability of Strategic Litigation’ (2020) 1 Acta Universitatis Carolinae Studia Territorialia 71; Open Society Justice Initiative, ‘Strategic Litigation Impacts: Roma School Desegregation’ (March 2016) <https:// www.justiceinitiative.org/publications/strategic-litigation-impacts-roma-school-desegregation> accessed 17 March 2025; 14 Tamar Ezer, ‘Legal advocacy as a tool to advance Roma Health’ (2018) 13 Health Economics, Policy and Law 92. 15 2015). Helen Stalford, ‘The CRC in Litigation Under EU Law” in Ton Liefaard and Jaap E. Doek (eds), Litigating the Rights of the Child (Springer 16 Geraldine van Bueren, “Children’s Rights” in Daniel Moeckli and others (eds), International Human Rights Law (Third Edition) (OUP 2018). 17 Open Society Justice Initiative, ‘Global Human Rights Litigation Report’ (8 March 2023) <https://www.justiceinitiative.org/publications/2023-global-human-rights-litigation-report> accessed 17 March 2025; Sarah Paoletti, ‘Working Toward Recognition of the Rights of Migrant and Refugee Children’ in Jonathan Todres and Shani M. King (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Children’s Rights Law (OUP 2020); Adam Weiss, ‘Strategically Litigating Childhood Statelessness’ <https://www.statelessness.eu/updates/blog/strategically-litigating-childhood-statelessness> accessed 17 March 2025; Richard Warren and Sheona York, ‘How Children Become “Failed Asylum-Seekers”: Reflections on the Experiences of Young