2020 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 2(1) having to pay potentially high costs. 68 Hence, stateless individuals that do not legally reside within a state’s territory may face obstacles in accessing health care and obtaining an adequate level of education. 69 This latter hardship, in turn, has consequences that extend into adulthood, particularly when it comes to employment. For stateless persons that are unable to enjoy quality education, prospects of engaging in meaningful employment decrease accordingly. Access to employment is further complicated by requirements of work permits or identification documents to enter into employment contracts. 70 The hypothetical grant of EU citizenship has the potential, through its right to legal residence, to remove the obstacles faced by stateless persons in accessing healthcare, education, and meaningful employment. EU citizenship may serve as a means of identification and legal residence may assist stateless persons in fulfilling requirements for access. All of the above could, theoretically, just as easily be achieved by the grant of residency rights to stateless persons. However, the conferral of EU citizenship status has benefits that extend beyond this, and may also provide access to other rights and resolve additional hardships. An example of one such right is the right to political participation; a right from which stateless persons have traditionally been excluded. 71 The grant of EU citizenship has the potential of allowing stateless individuals to vote and stand candidate in both municipal and European Parliament elections, and thereby have a say in decisions that concern them. 72 Furthermore, stateless persons would be entitled to receive protection from consular and diplomatic authorities abroad. Prior to the advent of EU citizenship, Member States reserved the right to consular and diplomatic protections to their national citizens and thus prevented stateless individuals from receiving such protection. 73 The advent of EU citizenship changed this, allowing individuals to benefit from a state’s consular and diplomatic protection abroad even if they lack that state’s nationality. Stateless persons also frequently fall victim to discrimination. This discrimination is already present in the fact that those lacking a nationality are restricted in their access to a number of rights, such as education and health care. As is noted above, the grant of EU citizenship, and its associated residency rights, is capable of facilitating equal access to these rights. In the context of employment, stateless persons may further benefit from workers’ rights. In the instance that a 68 69 70 71 72 73 See, eg, Román Romero-Ortuño, ‘Access to Health Care for Illegal Immigrants in the EU: Should We Be Concerned?’ (2004) 11(3) European Journal of Health Law 245; Gareth Davies, ‘Higher Education, Equal Access, and Residence Conditions: Does EU Law Allow Member States to Charge Higher Fees to Students Not Previously Resident?’ (2005) 12(3) Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 227. I Am Here, I Belong: The Urgent Need to End Childhood Statelessness (Report, UNHCR 2015) <https://www.unicef.org/protection/files/FINAL_ENGLISH_PDF.pdf>. See, eg, Lindsey Kingston and Kathryn Stam, ‘Recovering from Statelessness: Resettled Bhutanese-Nepali and Karen Refugees Reflect on the Lack of a Legal Nationality’ (2017) 16(4) Journal of Human Rights 389. Indira Goris, Julia Harrington and Sebastian Köhn, ‘Statelessness: What It Is and Why It Matters’ (2009) 32 Forced Migration Review 4. EU Charter (n 2) art 39. See art 5 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, in which it is repeatedly emphasised that consular functions consist in the protection (of the interests) of nationals of the sending state in the territory of the host state. Vienna Convention on Consular Relations opened for signature 24 April 1963, 596 UNTS 261 (entered into force 19 March 1967). See also Bronwen Manby, Citizenship and Statelessness in Africa: The Law and Politics of Belonging (Wolf Legal 2015) ch 2. 36