Statelessness in Macedonia 18. The main causes of statelessness in Macedonia are the dissolution of the Former Yugoslavia, barriers to birth registration and unregulated civil status. These, as will be analysed below, impact disproportionately on Roma, due to discrimination and marginalisation faced by the community. 19. Unfortunately, there is no official data or statistics issued by state authorities on the number of stateless persons in Macedonia, creating a serious problem regarding this issue. The country had its last census conducted in 2002 and it still lacks a complementary strategy for identification and determination of the exact number of stateless persons. 20. The majority of persons at risk of statelessness in Macedonia are of Roma ethnic origin. A significant number of persons of Albanian, Ashkaeli, Egyptian and other ethnic minority groups living on the territory of Macedonia are also at risk of statelessness. The definition of a “stateless person” can be found in the Law on Foreigners and it fully incorporates the definition stipulated in the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.13 Statelessness in the context of the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia 21. One of the main causes of statelessness in Macedonia is the dissolution of the former Yugoslav Federation. Findings from the ‘Roma Belong’ project14 establish how the disintegration of Yugoslavia, changing citizenship laws and large-scale displacement in the 1990s left many people in the Western Balkans at risk of statelessness and impact disproportionately on Roma in the region. As minority citizens of the former Yugoslav republics, the conflicts had a huge impact on Romani communities, provoking the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands, as well as significant changes in the determination of citizenship in the newly formed republics, and the loss or destruction of civil registers during the Kosovan conflict in 1999. Thus, Roma were more likely to have been displaced, and more likely to have been viewed as outsiders in the successor states. 22. In Macedonia, the adoption of the new citizenship law15 and the criteria set to be eligible for citizenship, such as registered permanent residence in the country at the time of independence, regular means of subsistence, and at least 15 years of uninterrupted legal residence,16 constituted barriers for members of ethnic minorities such as Roma who struggled to prove self-sufficiency and to produce documentation to demonstrate registration and residence due to factors including their marginalisation, exclusion and discrimination. 23. Even though the Law on Changes and Amendments to the Law on Citizenship of 200417 foresaw the opportunity to establish citizenship in the successor state for those who continued to live in Macedonia after 8 September 1991 and who established real and effective ties (and met other conditions), not everyone was able to take advantage of its provisions. 13https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/Macedonia_0.pdf 14 See http://www.errc.org/uploads/upload_en/file/roma-belong.pdf on Citizenship of the Republic of Macedonia, Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia n.67/1992 16 Ibid. p. 18 – 19. In particular, in the study is noted that the 15 years of uninterrupted residence in the former Republic was criticized for targeting ethnic minorities and was amended in 2004 by a two-year transitional provision ; 17 Law of Citizenship (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia No. 67/92 from 03.11.1992) 15Law 6