References For more information on statelessness in Europe, see https://www.statelessness.eu/issues. According to Eurostat, on average, around 1.5-2% of first-time asylum applicants to the European Economic Area each year are recorded as being stateless or of ‘unknown nationality’. This is very likely an underestimate due to the limited awareness and capacity to accurately identify and record statelessness in the migratory context to date. See Eurostat, Asylum applicants by type, citizenship, age and sex - annual aggregated data (accessed 6 October 2025). 3 For more information about the minorities affected by statelessness in Europe, see https://www.statelessness.eu/issues/stateless-minorities. 4 UNHCR, Statelessness Determination Procedures and the Status of Stateless Persons (‘Geneva Conclusions’) (2010). 5 These include, among others the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (see Article 24.3), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (see Articles. 2.2 and Article 3), the Convention of the Rights of the Child (see Articles 2, 3, 7 and 8), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (see Article 9), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (see Article 5(d)(iii)), Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (see Article 18), and the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (Article 15). 6 See Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme, Conclusion on Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons No. 106 (LVII) - 2006 (2006); UNHCR, ‘Handbook’; UNHCR, Good Practices Paper – Action 6: Establishing Statelessness Determination Procedures to Protect Stateless Persons (2020) (‘Good Practices Paper - Action 6’). 7 UNHCR, ‘Handbook’. 8 UNHCR, ‘Geneva Conclusions’, para. 1. See also Gyulai, G. ‘The determination of statelessness and the establishment of a statelessness-specific protection regime’, in Edwards, A. & Waas, L. (eds) Nationality and Statelessness under International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2014), pp. 116-117. 9 UNCHR, ‘Handbook’, para. 144; UNHCR ‘Good Practices Paper - Action 6’, p. 4. 10 UN Human Rights Committee, D.Z. v the Netherlands, CCPR/C/130/D/2918/2016, 28 December 2020, para. 10. 11 European Court of Human Rights, Hoti v Croatia, application no 63311/14, 26 April 2018; European Court of Human Rights, Sudita Keita v Hungary, application no. 42321/15, 12 May 2020. 12 UNHCR, ‘Handbook’. 13 The following Index countries have acceded to the 1954 Convention: Albania, Austria (with reservations), Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria (with reservations), Croatia, Czechia (with reservations), France (with reservations), Georgia, Germany (with reservations), Greece, Hungary (with reservations), Ireland (with reservations), Italy (with reservations), Latvia (with reservations), Malta (with reservations), Moldova (with reservations), Montenegro, Netherlands (with reservations), North Macedonia, Norway, Portugal (with reservations), Romania (with reservations), Serbia, Slovenia, Spain (with reservations), Sweden (with reservations), Switzerland, Türkiye, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom (with reservations). 14 Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Latvia, Moldova, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom all entered reservations to provisions under Chapter IV (Welfare) of the 1954 Convention. Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Latvia, Moldova, and Romania all entered reservations to Article 27 of the 1954 Convention. 15 Due to its political status, Kosovo cannot become State party to the 1954 Convention, but many safeguards deriving from this Convention have been incorporated into its national law. 16 The Index countries that have a procedure to determine statelessness are Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, France, Georgia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. More information on the Statelessness Index. 17 This is an adapted version of the building blocks of a ‘statelessness-specific protection mechanism’, proposed in Gyulai, G. ‘The determination of statelessness’ (2014). 18 1954 Convention, Article 38(1); International Law Commission, Draft Articles on Diplomatic Protection with commentaries (Yearbook of the International Law Commission, 2006 Vol. II (Part Two)). 19 UNHCR, ‘Handbook’, para. 23. 20 1930 Hague Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of Nationality Laws, Articles 1 and 2. 21 For an analysis of these terms, see Laura van Waas, ‘The UN Statelessness Conventions’ in Alice Edwards and Laura van Waas (eds), Nationality and Statelessness under International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2014), Chapter 3. 22 UNHCR, ‘Handbook’, para. 99. 23 Countries that have a narrower definition include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czechia, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Serbia, and Slovenia. 24 1954 Convention, Article 1(2). 1 2