Author: Hannah Wind
Location: Germany
Photo Credit: Statelessness in the United States (Kerwin, D., Alulema, D., Nicholson, M., and Warred, R. (2022, September 26). Statelessness in the United States: A study to estimate and profile the US stateless population - The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS). https://cmsny.org/publications/jmhs-kerwin-060220/).
SUMMARY
Statelessness is an issue that concerns around 4.4 million people around the world. Per its definition, being stateless means that people do not have a nationality and, therefore, their rights, including fundamental human rights, are not protected. While many think that this issue is confined to authoritarian states outside the Western World due to migration and other geopolitical factors, statelessness is also faced by many residing in the European Union. This article investigates what it means to be stateless within the European Union and how the European Union can help resolve the issue.
BACKGROUND
Civil violence, poverty, political instability – those are only some of the factors that force people to leave their place of residence and seek shelter elsewhere. The ‘United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights’ defines this kind of migration resulting from people being forced “to flee or to leave their homes or places of habitual residence, in particular as a result of or in order to avoid the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters” as ‘displacement.’
In other cases, displacement arises from statelessness. Thereby, a stateless person is, per the state’s domestic law, not a national. While one would think that statelessness is predominantly an issue in authoritarian states far away from the Global North, the issue is not confined to these states. Rather, due to migration and other geopolitical factors, statelessness extends to around 95 countries worldwide, leaving around 4.4 million without nationality.
As famous philosopher Hannah Arendt (1906-1974) already pointed out, statelessness leads to the loss of human rights: essentially, “the right to have rights” is closely tied to the membership to a specific state, seeing as only states can enforce these fundamental and - per the non-binding Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 - allegedly inalienable rights. Hannah Arendt’s own story depicts the issue of forced migration: Like thousands of others, the atrocities of the Second World War forced her to flee Germany and left her stateless.
Statelessness in the European Union
Today, around half a million people are stateless in Europe, as the European Network on Statelessness, a civil society alliance committed to ending statelessness, reports. A variety of factors play into this statelessness. For instance, the migration of refugees significantly contributes to the number of stateless within the European Union. In recent years, particularly the Russia-Ukraine war has led to an influx of people from Ukraine, a state with a large stateless population, “including former USSR citizens and Roma.”
Other stateless include those who are born to stateless parents in countries where citizenship cannot be automatically obtained upon birth and refugees who lack documentation or face language barriers impeding effective navigation through the legal processes to acquire a nationality. However, overall, statelessness results in the same consequences for anyone affected: People are stripped of their right to nationality, and because of that, they lose the protection and enjoyment of a plethora of other human rights.
Amongst other things, stateless cannot legally marry, they cannot work, vote, go to school, or register their child’s birth. In short, stateless cannot exert fundamental rights, which, in turn, leads to marginalisation and discrimination. Obviously, this not only affects their legal situation and political standing but also has a grave psychological impact that often cannot be treated because the people are denied access to a doctor. Therefore, stateless find themselves in a vicious cycle that is – without legal reforms and help from state authorities – impossible, or at least very hard, to escape.
Resolving Statelessness: What Should the European Union Do?
Observing and reporting on these issues, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as well as other organisations have pointed out specific points of action that the European Union should take in order to eradicate statelessness in the region and contribute to solving the issue worldwide.
To eradicate statelessness within the European Union, it is firstly important to improve identification and registration systems to ensure that those born to stateless parents do not lose their fundamental right to a nationality based on their parents’ status. Stateless individuals must be identified and registered efficiently, ensuring that comprehensive documentation is provided that will eventually allow for a nationality.
Moreover, it is suggested that the European Union undertakes legal reforms and policy changes complying with international conventions on statelessness. The European Union can thereby be a role model for other states to do the same and, thus, improve the situation of stateless globally by ensuring access to rights regionally and helping to prevent arbitrary denationalisation globally. This would open a new stage for stateless, giving them a voice and, in the best case, granting them access to legal aid and social services.
Finally, the European Union should raise awareness among the broad public and foster discussions among its Member States and international cooperations to enhance data collection, research, and analyses on statelessness. This, in conjunction with leveraging expertise from organisations like the UNHCR, can lead to the development of new strategies to combat statelessness effectively and address the specific needs of vulnerable groups.
REFERENCES
At least 4.4 million people are stateless, UN says. (2023, April 11). Deutsche Welle. https://www.dw.com/en/at-least-44-million-people-are-stateless-un-says/a-67304876
Europe has a duty to protect stateless refugees: here’s what needs to happen next. (2022, October 26). Eurochild. https://www.eurochild.org/news/europe-has-a-duty-to-protect-stateless-refugees-heres-what-needs-to-happen-next/
European Network of National Human Rights Institutions. (2019). Position Paper with Recommendations on the Eradication of statelessness in Europe. In European Network of National Human Rights Institutions. https://ennhri.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Statement-on-the-Eradication-of-Statelessness-in-Europe.pdf
Gessen, M. (2018, May 3). “The right to have rights” and the plight of the stateless. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-right-to-have-rights-and-the-plight-of-the-stateless
Kerwin, D., Alulema, D., Nicholson, M., and Warred, R. (2022, September 26). Statelessness in the United States: A study to estimate and profile the US stateless population - The Center for Migration Studies of New York (CMS). https://cmsny.org/publications/jmhs-kerwin-060220/
Key calls to the European Union on statelessness - UNHCR's key calls to the European Union. (n.d.). UNHCR. Retrieved July 14, 2024, from https://www.unhcr.org/europeanunion/statelessness/
Refworld - UNHCR’s Global Law and Policy Database. (2024, May 28). Report of the Representative of the Secretary-General, Mr. Francis M. Deng, submitted pursuant to Commission resolution 1997/39. Addendum: Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. Refworld. hhttps://www.refworld.org/legal/otherinstr/unchr/1998/en/31759
Statelessness in Europe. (2024). European Network on Statelessness. https://www.statelessness.eu/issues
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