CYELP 16 [2020] 301-317 317 immigrants can prove their identity and they also cannot go back to their home countries to obtain the required identity documents. Children are at risk of becoming stateless in host countries if their parents cannot produce the required identity documents from the country of origin, or, simply, just because they were born in exile, and their parents’ country of origin denies citizenship rights to be passed on to them. They, in turn, will give birth to stateless children and the problem will only worsen. Therefore, one of the desirable solutions is to facilitate naturalisation, because inclusion in society and legalisation of stay will bring economic, political and social benefits to countries, societies and stateless persons themselves. The concept of ‘world citizen identity’ might be too farfetched, but perhaps there is a chance, paradoxically, that due to the huge 2015 influx of new migrants, the sense of European identity will become stronger among the stateless generation. EU legislation already knows the concept of ‘EU citizenship’, which shapes EU integration, so perhaps in the future the motto ‘I am European’ will take on a new meaning. Eradicating statelessness requires the coordination and cooperation of international, regional, national and civil society actions. In the current situation − as consensus has already been developed internationally − the priority should be to grant citizenship to children who do not have documents and were born in the host country. This will contribute to their inclusion in society without making them prey to the destructive effects of statelessness. The principle of equality and non-discrimination which is the foundation of human rights, and the UN’s motto to promote peace, democracy and the rule of law, should not just be a conceptual declaration in the international human rights system, but, rather, an everyday reality experienced by stateless persons. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution − Non-Commercial − No Derivatives 4.0 International License. Suggested citation: A Szwed, ‘Statelessness in the Context of the Migration Crisis in Europe: A Growing Challenge for the International Community’ (2020) 16 CYELP 301.

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