• Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (see articles 1 and 2) Furthermore, the right to a nationality is included in Article 15 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. 13. At regional level, Montenegro is State Party to the European Convention on Nationality, but it maintains a reservation to Article 16, which precludes dual nationality. Montenegro is also State Party to the Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession. 14. In October 2019, at UNHCR’s High Level Segment on Statelessness, Montenegro pledged to strengthen its capacity for the effective implementation of the SDP, secure access to basic rights for stateless persons, and further strengthen its birth registration procedure. Montenegro has not yet taken sufficient steps to implement these pledges, but their implementation could have a significant impact on reducing statelessness.20 Snapshot of Statelessness in Montenegro 15. The last population census in Montenegro was carried out in 2011 and recorded 4,312 individuals with ‘no nationality’ of which 3,471 stated they were born in Montenegro.21 These numbers are not accepted by the Ministry of the Interior.22 In November 2017, the Government and UNHCR jointly carried out an exercise to map refugees from the Former Yugoslavia in Montenegro, which covered 2,318 people. The mapping confirmed that lack of documentation remains widespread, especially among Roma and Egyptian communities, and identified at least 450 people at risk of statelessness.23 16. Statelessness in Montenegro mostly affects Roma and Egyptian communities, many of whom originated from Kosovo having migrated to Montenegro between 1960 and 1980 and following the war in 1999. The phased separation of Montenegro from the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and, later, from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, together with changes in nationality legislation, have made it very challenging for some Roma and Egyptians, who were born outside Montenegro, to prove an entitlement to Montenegrin or any other nationality. Poor cooperation between successor States in the Balkans has further slowed progress. Their lack of documentation and/or their statelessness is in many cases being passed on to their children, creating intergenerational exclusion and perpetuating the risk of statelessness. 24 Surveys conducted by UNHCR and UNICEF of Roma and Egyptians in Montenegro in 2009 found that nearly 40% of those surveyed (more than half of whom were children) had incomplete personal documentation, and needed to initiate a legal procedure to resolve 20 See https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/results-of-the-high-level-segment-on-statelessness/. Statistical Office of Montenegro, Census 2011 Data – Montenegro, available at: https://www.monstat.org/eng/page.php?id=393&pageid=57. 22 For more information, see ENS, Statelessness Index - Montenegro at: https://index.statelessness.eu/country/montenegro. 23 For more information, see ENS, Statelessness Index - Montenegro at: https://index.statelessness.eu/country/montenegro. 24 For more information, see: UNHCR, Ending statelessness in South Eastern Europe, available https://www.unhcr.org/see/11299-ending-statelessness-in-south-eastern-europe.html; Human Rights Action, LJUDSKA PRAVA U CRNOJ GORI 2010–2011, p 421-423, available at: https://www.hraction.org/wpcontent/uploads/2017/01/Ljudska_prava_u_Crnoj_Gori_2010-2011.pdf; Phiren Amenca and ISI, Studija Slučaja Romi Bez Regulisanog Pravnog Statusa U Vrijeme Pandemije Covid-19, available at: http://phirenamenca.me/media/files_down/STUDIJA%20SLU%C4%8CAJA_ROMI%20BEZ%20REGULISANOG%20PRAVNOG%20S TATUSA%20U%20VRIJEME%20PANDEMIJE%20COVID-19.pdf. 21 4