2. The face of statelessness in Lithuania 2.1 Introduction While questions of citizenship and nationality maintain national prominence in Lithuania,20 statelessness is generally not perceived as an issue either by national authorities or by the public. There has heretofore been no research attempting to define the socio-demographic profile of the stateless population or their protection needs. There are no studies regarding the causes and demographics of statelessness in Lithuania, nor have there been prior assessments of the existing national legal and administrative framework to reduce and prevent statelessness. The reasons why some people did not or could not acquire the citizenship of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) and, later, of the Republic of Lithuania, have not been researched before. The present report discusses examples that illustrate some of those reasons.21 There are no specialized organizations in Lithuania that work specifically on statelessness. International organizations and NGOs working in the area of human rights, migration and refugee issues report that they have rarely or never come across statelessness.22 Most NGOs work on the basis of EU or government-funded projects, which currently do not prioritize stateless persons as a target group. Specific activities to reduce and prevent statelessness or to promote the rights of stateless persons in Lithuania do not appear in their plans, apparently due to lack of expertise and funding. Moreover, it is a challenge to get in contact with stateless persons in Lithuania. Stateless persons comprise a very heterogeneous group in Lithuania. Geographically they are widely dispersed and find themselves in different social situations. Some, such as stateless persons living in the Roma settlement in Vilnius or irregular migrants detained at the Foreigners’ Registration Centre (FRC), are easy to find because they are geographically concentrated and come into contact with authorities and NGOs. Most, however, have their status as stateless persons rendered invisible by other social factors. Stateless persons in Lithuania, be they undocumented residents, incarcerated persons, or those with permanent residence permits who lead relatively comfortable lives, are thus difficult to establish contact with. Finally, mapping the exact size of the stateless population in Lithuania is also difficult because the Statistics Department of Lithuania and the Migration Department under the Ministry of the Interior have reported different numbers of stateless persons. Furthermore, they ostensibly include only those stateless persons who hold residence permits. Stateless irregular migrants, asylum-seekers and persons with an “unresolved” 14 20 The most pressing and politicized question in this area has been the issue of dual citizenship, which is not generally allowed under the country’s Constitutional provisions but has been heavily lobbied for by the Lithuanian diaspora since the restoration of independence. The issue has been revived in light of large numbers of emigrating people in recent years. For more information, see Kūris, E. “Country Report: Lithuania”, EUDO Citizenship Observatory Country Reports (2010), p. 3-4, 31-32, 38-45. 21 See section 2.2.2 on the origin of stateless persons and causes of statelessness. 22 In August and September 2012, the researcher met in person or communicated by e-mail with representatives from UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Lithuanian Centre for Human Rights (LCHR), Lithuanian Red Cross (LRC), Human Rights Monitoring Institute (HRMI), Roma Community Centre (RCC), Caritas and Tolerant Youth Association (TYA). Only the HRMI, LRC and the RCC had worked with several stateless persons as part of their general activities. M A P P I N G S TAT E L E S S N E S S I N L I T H UA N I A