Jyothi Kanics

Jyothi Kanics has a Masters in International Human Rights Law from the University of Oxford and a Masters in International Relations from Yale University. She is currently working as an Associate Member of Child Circle and completing her PhD at the Faculty of Law of the University of Lucerne. Since 1995 she has been active with NGOs and international organisations including UNICEF, UNHCR, Save the Children and OSCE ODIHR advocating for the rights of migrants in vulnerable situations such as separated children, trafficked persons, undocumented migrants and stateless persons. She continues to provide expert advice to the Council of Europe and OSCE as well as to various foundations and NGOs. She is an active individual member of the European Network on Statelessness in Switzerland and advised the ENS on its #StatelessKids campaign.

Kerk in Actie

We are the church in action: a worldwide community of people who believe. Who believe in God and in each other. A real church is an active church. We are the Protestant Church in the Netherlands in action: two million members (of 17 million habitants), over 1600 local congregations are active on behalf of their fellow men and women, near and far. No one is excluded. All are welcome. We are touched and inspired by Jesus Christ and the Bible’s call to take care of widows and orphans, prisoners and refugees. It is our calling to share what we have received.

Kerk in Actie website

Mahmut Sansarkan

Mahmut Sansarkan graduated from the Faculty of Political Science, in the field of Political Science from Istanbul Bilgi University. He has over eight years of national experience in working with disadvantaged groups such as minorities, children, refugees, LGBTQI+ and asylum seekers and leading project management, grant management system, resilience and emergency programs, income generating activities, technical vocational training, food security and economic recovery, entrepreneurship, refugee response, women economic empowerment, child labor, and protection. Mahmut has a special interest in minorities, humanitarian aid, conflict resolution, development, climate change, and gender studies.

Michelle van Burik

Michelle is an Individual Member of ENS who has worked on Roma rights issues for twenty years. She is an expert in frontline casework, holistic support for individual cases as well as political lobbying on statelessness issues. Alongside this work, Michelle’s grassroots mobilisation and community engagement work is focused on raising awareness on the effects of antigypsyism related to statelessness. Currently Michelle is active as a guest History Lecturer in schools and universities, curates exhibitions and gives presentations in Dutch, English and German. She is active at local, national and European level.

Organization for Aid to Refugees (OPU)

OPU, the Organization for Aid to Refugees, is the oldest and largest non-governmental organization in Czechia which assists refugees, stateless persons and migrants. We provide free in-person legal and social aid to refugees, stateless persons and migrants. OPU offers this help throughout the entire country by means of aid in all eight reception, accommodation and detention centers and five regional offices. OPU has been the watchdog of any unlawful practices and systemic failures of the Czech asylum and migration policy, including statelessness procedure. This helps us to create systemic change. OPU’s director and lawyers appear in media regularly, criticizing the Czech Ministry of Interior and laws that hurt migrants. OPU has successfully represented many refugees, stateless persons and their families, has fought against unlawful detention and prevented deportation of the most vulnerable individuals and has publicly reported on grave breaches of international law.

Organization for Aid to Refugees (OPU) website

Red Acoge

Red Acoge is a nonprofit organization with a network made up of 20 Spanish associations working at local and regional level. We work on the issue of equality of treatment and non-discrimination from an interdisciplinary perspective. We inform and denounce Public policies and legislative changes, such as the above mentioned, raising awareness and disseminating relevant information. We provide social and legal assistance to victims of discrimination, as well as developing education and social integration projects to form an inclusive and multicultural society. We also work with other agencies to improve information and mechanisms regarding access to justice and data collection on the subject.

Red Acoge website

Refugees Union in Portugal - UREP

The Union of Refugees in Portugal – UREP was created on May 10, 2013, formed by refugee communities in Portugal, with the aim of promoting and integrating refugees into Portuguese society. With several buffs of experience in intercultural mediation with refugees from different origins to understand their needs and committed to contributing to the well-being of all refugees in Portugal. UREP, through its actions, aims to understand the needs of refugees and collaborate with other responsible institutions to develop effective responses, contributing to a well-defined and successfully implemented strategy.

Refugees Union in Portugal - UREP website

Saharawi Collective Youth Association LEFRIG

Our association (Asociación Juvenil Colectivo Saharaui LEFRIG) works to eradicate statelessness in general, and in particular we work with Sahrawis who arrive in Spain from the Sahrawi Refugee Camps in Tindouf (Algeria), to request Statelessness Status. It is a situation that we know very well because many of the members of the association have the recognition of the State of State by the Spanish State.

Our association was born to disseminate the situation of the Sahrawi people, but currently most of the work we do is accompanying and advising applicants for the Stateless Status.

Saharawi Collective Youth Association LEFRIG website

Sdružení pro integraci a migraci

Sdružení pro integraci a migraci (the Association for Integration and Migration (AIM)) is a non-profit, non-government organization based in Prague, Czechia. For the past 20 years it has provided legal and social counselling to third country nationals and stateless persons living in Czechia. AIM also attempts to use its legal counselling experience and knowledge in support of advocacy and legislative activities within Czechia and the wider EU.

Sdružení pro integraci a migraci website

Swiss Refugee Council

The Swiss Refugee Council is a non-profit umbrella organisation for Swiss NGOs active in the field of asylum. The organisation provides legal and country-of-origin advice, critically monitors the work of the authorities, and raises public awareness and provides information to the public. It also acts as a point of contact for politicians and experts

Swiss Refugee Council website