THEMATIC BRIEFING | SEPTEMBER 2021 Statelessness determination and protection in Europe 3 1. INTRODUCTION To be stateless is to have no nationality. For the millions of stateless people around the world, this can mean denial of basic rights most people take for granted: to go to school or work, get married or register the birth of your child, to legally ‘exist’.5 In Europe, statelessness affects both recent migrants and those who have lived in the same place for generations.6 It can be intertwined with other root causes of displacement,7 such as the persecution of minority groups, armed conflict, discrimination and gaps in nationality laws, and deprivation of nationality practices. Many in Europe are also stateless in situ, or “in their own country”.8 In situ statelessness is often linked to State succession and discriminatory laws or practices against certain communities trapped in intergenerational statelessness. For example, thousands of Romani people in Europe lack any identification documents to assert their nationality, and hundreds of thousands of people among Russian-speaking minority groups are excluded from citizenship in the Baltic States.9 The only way to resolve statelessness is to acquire a nationality. However, it is important to distinguish between the solutions required to address in situ statelessness and statelessness in a migratory context.10 For people who are stateless in situ, who have longestablished ties to the countries where they are living, the solution is not to grant a protection status that prolongs their statelessness. Instead, States should resolve in situ statelessness by confirming or granting nationality to those who lack it, including through targeted nationality campaigns or nationality verification efforts. States should also work to identify and eliminate discriminatory laws, policies, and practices that perpetuate intergenerational (risk of) statelessness affecting minoritized and marginalised populations. In the case of stateless migrants or refugees, States should first identify who is stateless on their territory, formally determine their statelessness (giving primacy to any asylum claim), and then grant them an adequate protection status and rights in line with the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954 Convention) and international human rights law.11 The determination of statelessness is best fulfilled through a dedicated statelessness determination procedure (SDP) that is fair, efficient, and easily accessible, in line with UNHCR guidelines.12 Statelessness status should include a residence permit, access to economic, social, civil, and political rights, the right to administrative assistance, exemption from requirements they cannot meet because they are stateless, and other rights protected by international law. States should also establish a facilitated route to naturalisation so stateless people can acquire a nationality and resolve their statelessness. Stateless person A stateless person is someone ‘who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law’.2 This definition is part of customary international law and has been authoritatively interpreted by UNHCR as requiring ‘a mixed question of fact and law’.3 Person at risk of statelessness A person who is not stateless but is at risk of becoming so, a person whose statelessness has not yet been determined but there are indications that they may be stateless, or a person whose statelessness may become evident over time. Hidden statelessness can come to light in an immigration detention context, as well as at different stages in migration or international protection procedures. In situ stateless populations People who are stateless in situ are commonly in a nonmigratory situation. They may be stateless in “their own country”,4 a country they have a significant attachment to (which is often the country where they were born and have always lived), and do not have significant ties to other countries. Statelessness in situ often occurs in the context of State succession or is perpetuated due to discriminatory laws or practices against certain communities.