Statelessness and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration There are three reasons why the implementation of the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration (GCM) must take statelessness and risk of statelessness into consideration. First, while most stateless persons have never crossed an international border, they are often subject to measures intended for migration control.i This must be taken into account when developing global migration governance frameworks. Second, migration can often put people at risk of statelessness. The GCM’s goal of safe, orderly and regular migration must include reducing the risk of statelessness associated with migration and ensuring that stateless persons have access to regular migration routes. Third, the implications for statelessness of migration policies can often be unintentional and obscured. It is crucial that stateless persons and their advocates are consulted in the development of migration governance processes. Introduction to statelessnessii Statelessness has been described as 'rooted displacement’ or 'displacement in situ' because it effectively makes a person displaced wherever they are.iii According to Article 1 of the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, a stateless person is 'a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law'. Estimates suggest that there are at least around either 10 or 15 million stateless persons.iv Often subject to migration control measures even if they have never moved, stateless persons may be excluded from many State institutions where they live: the regular labour market, health services, propertyownership, education or certification of educational accomplishments, civil registration (of births, marriages and deaths for example), social security, and even the protection of the law.v This means for example that a stateless person may be unable to work legally anywhere on earth. Stateless persons are also affected by administrative detention, often 'pending deportation’. However, without any place to which to be deported, the detention risks being indefinite and arbitrary.vi Most stateless persons may find crossing international borders difficult or impossible. There is no globally agreed mechanism for a stateless person to migrate in a safe, orderly and regular way. This is also the case for stateless persons in states in crisis or suffering violent persecution. They may have to seek out smugglers and are at severe risk of being trafficked. Meanwhile, statelessness can also cause mobility. At the extreme this includes those who flee persecution and those who are removed by force to a second State with which they have no formal relationship. But it also includes those who, unable to access legal work in the country where they live, for example, move elsewhere in search of better conditions. Migration can also give rise to risk of statelessness, particularly when it is urgent. This may happen for example if a person loses their documents. When a child is born in transit, there may be administrative difficulties involved registering birth and proving citizenship, as well as disagreement as to the child’s eligibility for citizenship. Migration policies can contribute to this. Irregular migrants, fearing detention or 2 of 8