Part I. Introduction and Context A unified Europe after years of tensions and wars as described in this chapter is not self-evident at the beginning of 2022. Different events have led to increased ‘new’ nationalism456, populism and xenophobia, a crisis of multiculturalism and even states turning away from close(r) cooperation on different matters. Key events in this regard include the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and further terrorist attacks around Europe, which sparked the ‘War on Terrorism’ with all kinds of anti-terrorism measures being taken and a “critique of multiculturalism that focuses on Muslims”.457 But terrorist attacks did not only come from Muslim extremists. From the extreme right we have also seen terrorist attacks, such as the bombing in Oslo and shootings on Utøya in 2011. Even though these events did not lead to statelessness directly, changing, more suspicious attitudes towards foreigners – or anyone who is not a national – could have consequences for stateless people, as they are a foreigner in any state, including discrimination. Such changing views of what behavior, believes or qualities makes a person ‘foreign’ may generate statelessness and make it harder of people to resolve their statelessness, because these also influence nationality policy. Quite some Western European states, for instance, have adopted measures to deprive (suspected) terrorists of their nationality, which sometimes leads to statelessness.458 For example “Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and the UK have […] amended their legislation since 2010 to make it easier for the competent authorities to deprive individuals of their nationality on security grounds”.459 Another example of this is the deprivation of nationality targeted Turkish citizens living abroad after the failed coup in Turkey in 2017.460 Some states try to avoid statelessness as a result of such measures, by only applying it to dual nationals for instance, but this raises other human rights concerns, for instance in relation to the principle of non-discrimination.461 Discrimination remains the main cause of statelessness globally.462 Indeed, arbitrary deprivation of citizenship can lead to statelessness on a scale that is quite 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 84 Cf Florian Bieber, ‘Is Nationalism on the Rise? Assessing Global Trends’ (2018) 17 Ethnopolitics 519. Tariq Modood, ‘Multiculturalism, Liberal Citizenship and National Identity: On British Muslims’ in Montserrat Guibernau & John Rex (eds), The Ethnicity Reader: Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Migration (2nd edn, Polity Press 2010) 243–250, 243. PACE/Tineke Strik, ‘Report: Withdrawing Nationality as a Measure to Combat Terrorism: A Human Rights-Compatible Approach? (2019) Doc 14790 <http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/ Xref-DocDetails-en.asp?FileID=25241&lang=en> accessed 26 September 2021. On this matter, see also eg Sandra Mantu, ‘Terrorist citizens and the human right to a nationality’ (2018) 26 Journal of Contemporary European Studies 28. ENS, ‘Statelessness Index Thematic Briefi ng: Deprivation of Nationality and the Prevention of Statelessness in Europe’ (ENS 2021) 11–12 <https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/default/fi les/2021–07/ Deprivation%20of%20nationality%20and%20the%20prevention%20of%20statelessness%20in%20 Europe%20FINAL.pdf> accessed 3 October 2021. ISI, ‘Policy Brief: Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality and Denial of Consular Services to Turkish Citizens (July 2017) <https://fi les.institutesi.org/policy-brief-Turkey-arbitrary-deprivation-ofnationality_2017.pdf> accessed 26 September 2021. Cf Principles on Deprivation of Nationality as a National Security Measure (2020) 3 <https://www. refworld.org/pdfid/5f3bf26d4.pdf> accessed 26 September 2021. Eg Olivier Vonk, Maarten Vink and Gerard-René de Groot, Protection Against Statelessness: Trends and Regulations in Europe’ (GLOBALCIT, EUDO Citizenship Observatory, Country Reports, Intersentia