Acknowledgements
This publication is jointly published by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Authors: This publication was prepared principally by UNHCR, and Mariana Olaizola
Rosenblat conducted substantial research in support of this project. Melanie Khanna,
Chief of the Statelessness Section, in the Division of International Protection (DIP),
oversaw the development of the project, helping to write and edit it for publication. Others
in the Statelessness Section including Lena Haap, Radha Govil, Anna de la Vargo Fito
and Fernando Bissacot, contributed to the research and review, as did UNHCR’s regional
statelessness officers. Radha Govil, Melanie Khanna and Shahrzad Tadjbakhsh, Deputy
Director of DIP, served as editorial reviewers.
Thanks also goes to the IPU Committee to Promote Respect for International
Humanitarian Law for their support.
All parts of this publication may be reproduced for personal and non-commercial use on
condition that copyright and source indications are also copied and no modifications are
made. Please inform the IPU on the usage of publication content.
All nationality laws were understood to be current as of the time of the writing of
this handbook. As nationality laws may be amended some references are likely to
become out of date over time. Official translations were relied upon where those were
publicly available. Where they were not, translations were done in-house; any errors are
unintentional and should be reported to the IPU or the UNHCR.
© Inter-Parliamentary Union 2018
Cover photo: © UNHCR/Midhat Poturovic
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Support to durable solutions of the Revised Strategy for the
Implementation of Annex VII of Dayton Peace Agreement
A Roma woman and her minor child who was at risk of statelessness are showing birth
and citizenship certificates, which they obtained with the help provided to them by Vasa
Prava BiH, UNHCR’s partner organization providing free legal aid in Sarajevo. UNHCR’s free
legal aid partner non-governmental organization is providing legal assistance to the Roma
population, a minority of which is at risk of statelessness in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to
be registered in birth/citizenship registries. EU-UNHCR co-sponsored IPA 2012 project of
supporting socio-economic integration of minority returnees and internally displaced in
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Design and layout: Ink Drop
ISBN: 978-92-9142-731-4 Handbook on statelessness (EN)