ANNUAL REPORT 2014-15 1 7 OUR ACTIVITIES AND IMPACT INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY Statelessness is fundamentally a human rights issue and one of the ways in which we seek to tackle it is through international human rights advocacy and engagement with human rights mechanisms. In partnership with the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion and our national members, we have made several submissions to the UN’s Universal Periodic Review process and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. In parallel, we are trying to enforce rights through the courts and, following the organisation of an expert meeting in September 2014, we have produced a three-year pan-European litigation strategy. PROTECTING STATELESS PERSONS FROM ARBITRARY DETENTION The detention of stateless people is a worrying trend across Europe. This is happening despite the fact that protection against arbitrary detention is entrenched under international and regional law. Against this backdrop, ENS has embarked on a threeyear project to map the extent of the issue, devise advocacy tools and train lawyers and NGOs to protect stateless persons from arbitrary detention. In 2015, jointly with our members, we published three country reports highlighting the gaps and raising awareness about the extent of the issue in Malta, Poland and the Netherlands. Each country partner organised a national roundtable in order to provide training to lawyers, NGOs and government representatives, and as a platform for ongoing national-level advocacy efforts. In parallel to the country-level research, we launched a toolkit “Protecting Stateless Persons from Arbitrary Detention” intended as a resource for a range of actors to support efforts to challenge unlawful detention and secure ‘release and stayrights’ for detainees. London, November 2015 – The detention toolkit was formally launched at a London event in November, accompanied by an exhibition of Greg Constantine’s photography “Nowhere people”. European Network on Statelessness PROTECTING STATELESS PERSONS FROM ARBITRARY DETENTION A REGIONAL TOOLKIT FOR PRACTITIONERS ENS is forging important new ground in advocating for stateless persons’ rights. The work to develop and rollout the first ever regional toolkit to protect stateless migrants from arbitrary detention is proving to be a critical resource for civil society and key stakeholders, and is impacting in the region and beyond. GRANT MITCHELL, DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL DETENTION COALITION (IDC)