Statelessness and the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum May 2024 Statelessness is often intertwined with other root causes of forced displacement, such as the persecution of ethnic, religious, or other members of minority groups, armed conflicts, and discrimination. Among the stateless people living in Europe today are individuals who arrived seeking international protection and were either stateless prior to leaving their country of origin or have since become stateless. According to Eurostat, on average, around 3% of first-time asylum applicants to the European Economic Area each year are recorded as being stateless or of ‘unknown nationality’. This is very likely an underestimate due to the limited awareness, capacity, and tools to accurately identify and record statelessness in the migratory context to date. A high proportion of refugees come from countries (such as Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia, and Sudan, among others) where, as a result of discrimination in nationality laws, State succession, or deprivation of nationality practices, they or their children may be stateless or have undetermined nationality. The fact that an asylum applicant may be stateless is often critical when assessing their claim for international protection. Whether someone is stateless or a national of their country of origin not only impacts on the decision-making process, but also on the nationality rights of their children, and access to procedures such as family reunification, resettlement, or naturalisation (as well as the possibility of return) because they are unlikely to have documentary proof of their identity and family links. Stateless people are due specific rights under international law and risk further discrimination and rights violations if their statelessness is not identified and acted upon. What are the new statelessness provisions in the Pact? Screening Regulation The Screening Regulation includes under Article 2(5) the international customary law definition of a stateless person - ‘a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law’ - albeit without explicit reference to its source, the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. As part of preliminary vulnerability checks, Recital 37 provides that ‘indications… of being stateless’ should be identified, Article 12(3) provides that the screening be carried out ‘with a view to identifying whether a thirdcountry national might be a stateless person’, and Article 17, the ‘Screening form’, includes the field ‘indication of nationalities or statelessness’. Asylum Procedures Regulation (APR) The APR in Recital 24 reminds Member States to ‘respect their international obligations towards stateless persons, in accordance with international human rights law instruments including where applicable under the [1954 Convention]’, advising that they ‘should endeavour to identify stateless persons and strengthening their protection thus allowing stateless persons to enjoy core fundamental rights and reducing the risk of discrimination or unequal treatment’. Article 3(15) includes the international legal definition of a stateless person. Article 27(2) provides for the consequence of identification of statelessness, stating that where an individual claims not to have a nationality, that fact shall be clearly registered pending the determination of whether the individual is stateless. Consequently, Article 29(4)(a) cites the requirement to include ‘nationalities or, if applicable, an indication of statelessness’ in documents issued to confirm an asylum application. Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management (RAMM) The AMMR in Recital 49 includes the same text that appears in the APR recitals requiring respect for international obligations towards stateless persons, reference to the 1954 Convention, and strengthening protection and avoiding discrimination. Article 2(2) also incorporates the international legal definition of a stateless person.