education and formal employment, limited freedom of movement, and lacking identity documentation, can lead to circumstances where individuals face heightened insecurity and are exposed to exploitative actors and situations. This can lead to stateless people in a migratory context being forced into precarity and unsafe options to meet their needs, including reliance on smugglers or other exploitative actors, as has been noted by the Special Rapporteur.4 Stateless people are often unable or unwilling to access protection or assistance when exploitation occurs, either because no national authorities are willing to assist them (as they are not recognised as a national by any State) or because they are reluctant to seek help due to fear of discrimination or previous negative experiences with the authorities. Moreover, the absence of pathways to regularisation for stateless people in many European countries can contribute to long‑term exclusion and heightened risks of exploitation.5 Although there is limited data on the proportion of trafficking victims who are stateless (or vice versa), available evidence indicates a clear overlap in populations in Europe known to be at higher risk of trafficking and those affected by statelessness. This includes people belonging to Romani communities, people with migrant and refugee backgrounds, including unaccompanied minors, and those affected by conflict-induced displacement. For example, UNODC and others have highlighted the heightened risk of trafficking among stateless and undocumented people fleeing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.6 The fact that nationality enables access to rights often means that stateless children and children at risk of statelessness have limited economic independence, access to information, language and literacy rates, and access to social security, and are therefore prevented from fulfilling other rights, such as education, employment, healthcare, housing, and access to justice. This is exacerbated when they have experience of trafficking. Lack of documentation (or withholding documentation) can be used against them as a form of coercion to perpetuate abuse, and inadequate child protection safeguards mean that trafficked children risk being treated as offenders rather than victims. These factors are likely to leave children fearful of engaging with authorities and seeking assistance.7 Further attention should also be given to the risk of statelessness amongst children of parents who are themselves victims of trafficking. These children are born into a trafficking situation and will likely face significant barriers to having their births registered, which is essential to later prove, confirm, or acquire a nationality. Women who give birth outside of hospital or healthcare settings often encounter greater difficulties in registering the birth of their child, and additional documentation is often required. Sometimes, mothers who are undocumented are not allowed to register the birth of their children without having their own situation regularised, which often is UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Siobhán Mullally, ‘Refugee protection, internal displacement and statelessness’, 3 July 2023, A/HRC/53/28, paragraph 73. 5 ENS, Statelessness determination and protection in Europe: good practice, challenges, and risks, October 2025. 6 UNODC, Conflict in Ukraine: Key evidence on risks of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, December 2022, page 5; Suzanne Hoff and Eefje de Volder, ‘Preventing human trafficking of refugees from Ukraine: A rapid assessment of risks and gaps in the anti-trafficking response’, La Strada International and The Freedom Fund, May 2022, page 2. 7 UN Human Rights Council, Discrimination against women on nationality related matters, including the impact on children : Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 15 March 2013, A/HRC/23/23, paragraph 53. 4