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.

Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers (NOAS)

The Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers (NOAS) is an independent membership organisation working to protect the rights of asylum seekers in Norway. Its main activities are to give information and legal assistance to asylum seekers, as well as advocacy work toward the political establishment and the general public. NOAS’ largest assignment is the Information and counselling program commissioned by the Directory of Immigration (UDI), which provides information and counselling to asylum seekers shortly after arrival to Norway. NOAS aims to contribute to an asylum policy and practice rooted in humanism, justice and international obligations. NOAS’ focus is on rights for asylum seekers, which also includes stateless persons – approx. 4 -600 stateless persons register as asylum seekers in Norway each year.

Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers (NOAS) website

PIC - Legal Centre for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment

PIC – Pravni center za varstvo človekovih pravic in okolja

PIC is a non-governmental organisation focusing on the protection of human rights and the environment. The main areas of work include the protection of the rule of law, refugee and migration law, environmental law and protection of victims of discrimination. PIC provides free legal help and representation and conducts extensive advocacy, policy and awareness activities. 

PIC - Legal Centre for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment website

Reem Abbas

I have been working as a humanitarian worker for almost 10 years with different organizations starting with UNHCR in Syria as a case worker and then as a senior child protection officer . As a Palestinian refugee living in Syria it was hard to live within the bad security situation during the war so the only option I had is to flee to Netherlands where I was considered a stateless. Being identified as a stateless person was not easy and made me think that we should pay more attention to this group and identify the risks and problems for this group and trying to find solution and make more awareness among the communities about it. Especially that whenever I am asked about the status on my residence permit and and I say it is stateless people have no idea what it means . in my point of view , there should be more awareness about statelessness as a legal term and then more deep in assessment for stateless people to tackle the issues they face in the country of asylum.
Recently my activities has been with NEW WOMEN CONNECTORS and vluchtelingenwerk Eindhoven and this issue of statelessness is one of things that I am dealing with.

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

Rights Georgia

Rights Georgia (formerly known as “Article 42 of the Constitution”) is a non-profit entity founded in September 1997 uniting professionals to promote human rights and freedom. Rights Georgia takes a multifaceted approach: promoting human rights awareness and supporting the development of national legislation to international human rights standards by monitoring state activities. 
The mission of the organization is to assist the promotion of rights guaranteed in different international agreements and support their implementation; to support the establishment of the rule of law; to develop the system of justice; to support the work of human rights defenders; to work on public awareness about human rights and tolerance, and to support the enhancement of professional legal education.
Rights Georgia is a sole legal partner of the UNHCR in Georgia and the only organization in Georgia, which is focused on protecting and empowering asylum seekers, refugees, humanitarian status holders, and statelessness persons. Rights Georgia provides legal assistance and legal consultation to the persons of concern on asylum-related cases, as well as on access to rights and expulsion cases.  

Rights Georgia website

SdruĹľenĂ­ pro integraci a migraci

SdruĹľenĂ­ 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.

SdruĹľenĂ­ pro integraci a migraci website

Trixiewiz e.V.

Trixiewiz e.V. is a migrant and feminist organisation committed to creating sustainable forms of solidarity in a society shaped by migration. We see ourselves as a space for collaborative networking where we can develop new and effective forms of transnational political participation. To do so, we organise emancipatory projects in which migrants (particularly women*) are treated not simply as audience members, but, above all, as experts in their own right. Through political, cultural, and educational programmes for people who have experienced migration and/or flight, we develop participatory strategies to combat racism and discrimination and initiate processes of self-empowerment. 

Trixiewiz e.V. website