1. Introduction Statelessness remains a global problem with millions of persons living without nationality in the world today.1 A significant number of those affected are children, unrecognized as citizens by any state and pushed into a legal limbo and a life of exclusion. According to available data,2 there are hundreds of thousands of stateless persons currently residing in Europe, their status often irregular and fragile, resulting in various forms of human rights abuses. For many years, the issue of statelessness in Poland was perceived as a matter of little relevance by state authorities, academia and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). This has potentially been due to the statistical scarcity of such cases in migration procedures, the absence of in-depth analysis and public awareness of the issue. Until recently statelessness in Poland remained a hidden problem, underreported, easily dismissed in the official discourse and as a technical challenge in the proper identification of foreigners rather than a question of legal status and access to rights. 1.1 Methodology The main aim of this study has been to collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data regarding the situation of stateless persons in Poland in line with Action 10 of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)3 Global Action Plan to End Statelessness (GAP),4 in order to illustrate the different profiles and protection needs of this group. As a result, this report focuses on providing insights into fundamental issues surrounding statelessness in Poland in order to present a comprehensive picture of the situation of stateless persons in the country. Although the issue of statelessness in Poland has been initially researched by the Halina Nieć Legal Aid 1 For more information, please see UNHCR, Global Trends – Forced Displacement 2016, 19 June 2017, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/statistics/unhcrstats/5943e8a34/global-trends-forced-displacement-2016.html 2 Ibid. 3 As the organization mandated by the United Nations to protect refugees, UNHCR has been involved in statelessness issues and with stateless persons since it began operations in 1951 due to the number of refugees affected by statelessness. In this capacity, UNHCR was involved in the drafting of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. To undertake the functions foreseen by Articles 11 and 20 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, namely to examine the cases of persons who claim the benefit of that Convention and to assist them in presenting their claims to the authorities under Article 11 of that Convention, UNHCR’s mandate was expanded to cover persons falling under the terms of that Convention by General Assembly Resolutions 3274 (XXIX) of 1974 and 31/36 of 1976. The Office was entrusted with responsibilities for stateless persons generally by General Assembly Resolution 50/152 of 1995, which endorsed UNHCR Executive Committee Conclusion 78. Subsequently, in Resolution 61/137 of 2006, the General Assembly endorsed Executive Committee Conclusion 106 which sets out four broad areas of responsibility for UNHCR: the identification, prevention and reduction of statelessness and the protection of stateless persons. 4 UNHCR, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness, 4 November 2014, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/545b47d64.html; Action 10 refers to the improvement of quantitative and qualitative data on stateless populations. UNHCR POLAND, SEPTEMBER 2019 9