Statelessness in Czechia | January 2024 • • 9 Climate change resulting in forced displacement and/or destruction of states26 Other laws, policies, practices, or circumstances not listed above, especially when adequate safeguards to prevent statelessness are not in place Some States cause statelessness, or cause it to continue, through ostensibly neutral or in some cases allegedly positive laws and policies that result in statelessness and/or the failure to protect stateless people. For example, a nationality law that restricts nationality to people who were resident in a country at a particular time is neutral on its face, but it excludes people who have a strong connection to that country but who were not resident at the requisite time.27 It is important to be aware that states are sometimes hostile towards stateless people, deny that state action or inaction has caused statelessness, or are unaware of the ways in which laws and policies result in statelessness or cause hardship for stateless people. Statelessness in Czechia arises from various circumstances but is mostly linked to migration. Refugees may be at heightened risk of statelessness due to their status as foreigners and factors such as lack of documentation, inability to prove their nationality, or issues related to changes in their home country’s government or laws. Children born in the territory may inherit statelessness from their parents, though there are some safeguards in place (see Section 9).28 Nationality and discrimination based on sex, gender, and/or sexual or gender identity In numerous countries, nationality laws discriminate based on sex, gender, and/or sexual or gender identity, sometimes preventing women or LGBTQI+ parents from passing on their nationality to their children or discriminating in other ways that may lead to statelessness. For more information, see a list of countries whose nationality laws discriminate against women and a blog article relating to discrimination based on sexual or gender identity and childhood statelessness. Sometimes statelessness is relatively obvious; other times, it is ‘hidden’. For example, a person who has been deprived of nationality for political reasons will often be aware that they are stateless (and may or may not have documentary evidence to prove it). In some situations, however, statelessness may remain unidentified for many years, particularly when a child is born outside their parents’ country of nationality and the laws of their home country require registration in order to acquire nationality. Such children’s statelessness may go unrecognised for many years, and as a result children may face challenges in accessing basic rights. Some people may not know that they or their children are stateless. Statelessness can be identified in various official procedures. Adequate training is vital for all those who work in procedures or institutions in which statelessness can be identified. Relevant procedures may include: • • 26 Statelessness determination procedures Nationality determination and naturalisation procedures See e.g. Michelle Foster, Nicola Hard, Hélène Lambert and Jane McAdam, Preventing Statelessness and Nationality Loss in the Context of Climate Change (ENS, 2022). 27 See e.g. Neha Jain, Manufacturing Statelessness, American journal of international law, 2022, Vol. 116, No. 2, 237-288; and see R (on the application of Marouf) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] UKSC 23 (finding the UK’s Syrian resettlement scheme’s exclusion of Palestinians living in UNRWA areas of operation is lawful). 28 see Czechia Country Profile. ENS Statelessness Index. Available here.