have been unable to obtain/renew personal documents since 2014 • Asylum-seekers, refugees, and
migrants (and their children) residing in Ukraine who were stateless prior to leaving their countries of
origin or have since become stateless due to displacement, discrimination, State succession, or
deprivation of nationality […]”
UNHCR, 2021 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Ukraine, 12 April 2022
“UNHCR estimated there were more than 35,000 stateless persons and persons with undetermined
nationality in the country. Persons who were either stateless, at risk of statelessness, or with
undetermined nationality included Roma, homeless persons, current and former prisoners, as well as
nationals of the former USSR who resided in Ukraine in 1991 but never obtained an endorsement in their
Soviet passport indicating they were citizens of Ukraine […]"
Thomas Reuters Foundation News, Ukraine's stateless trapped in warzone with no proof they exist, 4 April
2022
“The United Nations estimates Ukraine is home to about 36,000 stateless people who live on the margins
of society, deprived of basic rights and services. Some experts on statelessness said the real number was
probably much higher. They include many like Honcharova who fell through the gaps following the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and a significant proportion of Ukraine’s large ethnic minority Roma
population. Others at risk of statelessness include people who have fled conflict in the eastern separatist
Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as an estimated 60,000 children born in these territories and the
Crimean peninsula seized by Russia in 2014. […] In 2014, the United Nations launched a campaign called
#IBelong to end the plight of millions of stateless people worldwide within a decade. Last year, Ukraine
introduced a procedure to identify and protect stateless people on its territory, and potentially provide
them with a route to citizenship. But only 55 people have been recognised to date. Hundreds of other
applications, including Honcharova’s, have been put on hold following the outbreak of war.”
Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, Challenges Facing Stateless People Displaced by the War in
Ukraine, 31 March 2022
"In 2021, UNHCR estimated that 35,875 people were stateless or had ‘unknown nationality’ in Ukraine,
but only 6,047 stateless people had a formalised legal residence status in the country. Moreover, this data
does not account for the full picture of statelessness in the country – including an estimated 35,000 Roma
who are stateless or at risk of statelessness. Other groups affected are: former citizens of the USSR who
were unable to demonstrate permanent residence in Ukraine in 1991 and did not receive Ukrainian
nationality; refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants already residing in the country who were already
stateless in their countries of origin or due to displacement; and people living in non-Government
controlled areas."
European Network on Statelessness, Assisting stateless people trapped in Ukraine: report from the
ground, 24 March 2022
"Approximately 10-20% of the estimated 400,000 Romani people living in Ukraine are stateless or at risk
of statelessness. Additionally, 55% of children born in Donetsk and Luhansk and 88% of children born in
Crimea were reported to lack Ukrainian birth certificates or personal documents, putting them at risk of
statelessness."
"individuals who previously held passports from the Former-USSR but lost them and are now
undocumented. The majority of this group are elderly with no source of income, and many have longterm health conditions. Even before the war, they were reliant on NGOs for assistance, including for food
and medicines. Since the invasion, this group of beneficiaries has become even more vulnerable. […]
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