Submission of evidence to inform the new EU Strategy on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings January 2026 Directive (EU) 2024/1712 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 amending Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims (AntiTrafficking Directive), Recitals 2, 18 and 22. ii 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, Article 1(1). See also under EU law, Screening Regulation, Article 2(5); APR, Article 3(15); AMMR, Article 2(2). iii https://www.statelessness.eu/issues/stateless-minorities iv According to Eurostat data, around 1.5–2% of first‑time asylum applicants to the European Economic Area each year are recorded as stateless or of ‘unknown nationality’, though this is very likely an underestimate due to limited awareness, capacity and tools to accurately identify and record statelessness in practice. Eurostat, Asylum applicants by type, citizenship, age and sex - annual aggregated data, at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/bookmark/dd9c5f02-bafb-4d3a-a54007b07ff9d9a6?lang=en&createdAt=2025-08-27T11:39:07Z; See: ENS, Stateless Journeys https://statelessjourneys.org/ v 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 7; 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 24(2); 1997 European Convention on Nationality; 2006 Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession. vi Screening Regulation, Article 12(3); ENS, Implementing the Statelessness Provisions in the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, October 2024, at: https://www.statelessness.eu/updates/publications/implementingnew-statelessness-provisions-eu-pact-migration-and-asylum. vii UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Siobhán Mullally, ‘Refugee protection, internal displacement and statelessness’, 3 July 2023, A/HRC/53/28, paragraph 73. viii ENS, Statelessness determination and protection in Europe: good practice, challenges, and risks, Briefing, October 2025, at: https://www.statelessness.eu/updates/publications/sdp-briefing-2025 ix EU, Report on the progress made in the European Union in combating trafficking in human beings (Fifth Report), 20 January 2025, at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2025%3A8%3AFIN x UNODC, Conflict in Ukraine: Key evidence on risks of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants, December 2022, page 5, at: https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-andanalysis/tip/Conflict_Ukraine_TIP_2022.pdf; Suzanne Hoff and Eefje de Volder, ‘Preventing human trafficking of refugees from Ukraine: A rapid assessment of risks and gaps in the anti-trafficking response’, La Strada International and The Freedom Fund, May 2022, page 2, at: https://cdn.freedomfund.org/app/uploads/2024/03/UkraineAntiTraffickingReport_2022_05_10.pdf xi UN Human Rights Committee, Concluding observations on the second periodic report of Thailand, 119 th Session, 25 April 2017, CCPR/C/THA/CO/2, paragraphs 24 and 42 (b). xii UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, General Recommendation No. 38 on trafficking in women and girls in the context of global migration, 20 November 2020, CEDAW/C/GC/38; CEDAW, Concluding observations on the combined sixth and seventh periodic reports of Thailand, 67th Session, 24 July 2017, CEDAW/C/THA/CO/6-7, paragraphs 24 and 42 (b). xiii UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Siobhán Mullally, ‘Refugee protection, internal displacement and statelessness’, 3 July 2023, A/HRC/53/28, paragraph 10. i