Networking For Change 215 or lack thereof, from the EU which in itself remains an enduring obstacle to unblocking the problem of statelessness in Europe today. This is explored in more detail below, but arguably is both illustrative of and a contributory factor towards a wider malaise or lack of attention among the wider public. Even when statelessness does enter the public discourse, it often does so in a confused or inaccurate way, for example the recent (erroneous) claim by whistleblower Edward Snowden that he was stateless following the revocation of his US passport.11 Similarly, perhaps the closest the issue has come to entering the vox populi was in the 2004 film The Terminal starring Tom Hanks as a migrant stuck in the transit zone of a New York airport. This lack of public interest has done little to incentivise action, and with both government and civil society organizations seemingly oblivious to the problem, many stateless persons find themselves stuck in the margins of society without respect for their basic human rights. It also helps explain the huge gulf between notional protection provided under relevant legal standards and the actual realisation of those rights in practice. ENS was set up against this backdrop and to fill a perceived gap by acting as a coordinating body and expert resource for organisations and individual experts across Europe who work with or come into contact with stateless persons. No equivalent network previously existed although there was earlier statelessness-related activity by a small number of NGOs at both a national and sub-regional level.12 ENS conducts and supports a range of legal and policy development, awareness-raising and capacity building activities aimed at addressing statelessness. Since its public launch in June 2012, the Network has attracted 80 members (50 NGO members and 30 individual associate members) in over 30 European countries.13 Pending its incorporation with its 11 12 13 See Michael Goodwin, ‘Edward Snowden – From Hero Whistleblower to Stateless Pariah’ Fox News (10 July 2013) <http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/07/10/edward-snowden -from-hero-whistleblower-to-stateless-pariah> accessed 19 August 2013; his claim to be stateless was challenged by others, see Daniel Rothberg, ‘Is Edward Snowden Stateless? Not Really’ Los Angeles Times (2 July 2013) <http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jul/02/news/ la-ol-edward-snowden-stateless-nsa-20130702> accessed 19 August 2013 2013. Most notably, activities by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. See Hungarian Helsinki Committee, ‘Forgotten Without Reason: Protection of Non-Refugee Stateless Persons in Central Europe’ (June 2007) <http://helsinki.hu/en/forgotten-without-reason -%E2%80%93-protection-of-non-refugee-stateless-persons-in-central-europe-2007-2> accessed 19 August 2013. For a full list of ENS member profiles see European Network on Statelessness <http:// www.statelessness.eu/about-us/members/member-organisations> accessed 19 August 2013. tilburg law review 19 (2014) 212-222