Statelessness in Czechia | January 2024 8 sufficient for certain institutions, leading to exclusion from essential services. In addition, the lack of proper documentation and the requirement to obtain a work permit can be a significant barrier for stateless persons to secure employment, further exacerbating their challenges and hindering their access to economic opportunities. The UNHCR mapping study also states that stateless people often prioritise selfsufficiency and securing housing as their main survival strategies, sometimes putting off other life goals such as starting a family or addressing personal needs. Those in prolonged irregular situations often felt that they had spent their prime years in insecurity without adequate support, perceiving their situation as unjust, and experiencing a sense of hopelessness. Loss of residence status led to reduced job opportunities, income stability, and deteriorating living conditions. Stateless persons lacking support networks often resorted to irregular employment and temporary housing arrangements, leading to homelessness for many.24 For more information, see: ENS leaflet Statelessness: What do you need to know? ENS Short Guide for Refugee Response Actors. For more recent figures, see UNHCR’s annual Global Trends Report. Hear from people with lived experience of statelessness here. Read the stories of stateless people living in Czechia in the UNHCR mapping study here. To learn more about the rights of stateless persons and Czechia’ legislative approach, see Explanatory Memorandum. Statelessness arises in a wide range of circumstances and may directly or indirectly be caused by: • • • • • • • 24 Discrimination based on sex, sexual or gender identity, ethnicity, religion, or other factors Gaps or restrictions in nationality laws, often but not necessarily linked to state succession Conflicts of nationality laws between various countries Issues relating to state sovereignty and incomplete recognition of statehood Obstacles in civil registration procedures and practices, particularly birth registration Arbitrary deprivation of nationality, including for political reasons25 Armed conflict (inability to access birth registration or documents due to conflict, etc) UNHCR, Faces of Statelessness in the Czech Republic, December 2020. Available here. Deprivation of nationality is often used as a punishment for human rights advocacy or opposition to government oppression, and increasingly in Europe as a counter-terrorism measure, even when it leads to statelessness. See e.g. SALAM DHR, ISI & Hawiati, Arbitrary Revocation of Nationality in Bahrain: a Tool of Oppression (2021); ENS, Statelessness Index Thematic Briefing: Deprivation of nationality and the prevention of statelessness in Europe (2021). 25