Last week, we had the privilege of jointly organising the Statelessness & Innovation conference in Berlin with stateless-led organisation, Statefree. Back home and reflecting on three inspirational days, the conference feels like a real step change in the development and transformation of ENS, like we have made tangible progress towards our strategic goal of stateless people claiming power as leaders of change.
A conference born from solidarity
The Berlin conference was born from a remarkable show of solidarity by Statefree co-founder and ENS Trustee, Christiana Bukalo. Christiana reached out to me in March to propose that we pool funding for a joint conference after one of our projects – making up 30% of our annual budget – was terminated overnight by the US State Department. A central pillar of that project had been to host an international statelessness conference in Istanbul this autumn. Statefree’s solidarity in that moment of adversity for ENS is what brought the Berlin Statelessness & Innovation conference into being.
At the conference, I reflected on how back in 2020, ENS was able to provide a very small grant to Christiana to support the initial design and set-up of Statefree’s website as it prepared to launch. In the intervening five years, Statefree has impressively grown its staff team and community membership, driven forward advocacy in Germany and beyond, and secured significant EU and other funding. This has been a powerful reminder to us all of how lived experience and community leadership can and must shape and lead our changemaking efforts.
In those five years we’ve also witnessed the development of several other stateless-led organisations in Europe and a third of all new members joining ENS in recent years represent communities affected by statelessness or are individuals with lived experience. We’ve also seen the ENS community group grow to include 50 people with lived experience, and a third of our Board and half our current Advisory Committee have lived experience of statelessness or being a refugee.
A step change forwards
Berlin last week epitomised efforts to address power imbalances and facilitate safe spaces for reflection, innovation and direction-setting. In some sessions, community voices were in the majority, and the format of the event encouraged participation by diverse actors on equal terms. It was not always easy for everyone in the room to navigate the different perspectives and emotions present, but we exchanged and learnt so much through co-organising the event with Statefree, and are determined to hold on to this as we follow up on the inspiring and insightful conversations that our collaboration generated.
Over the coming weeks we will take time to reflect and de-brief with our respective teams and together, before sharing a conference outcomes report. Our aim is to set out a shared, innovative direction for how we can improve the identification and protection of stateless people in Europe and enable everyone to realise their right to a nationality. Today, I want to give you a flavour of our time together in Berlin, and the diverse voices and perspectives of the more than 100 participants who were in the room.
Day 1 – Connecting, mapping, and setting a shared direction
Participants on the first day comprised a smaller group of around 60 ENS and Statefree members and focused on building connection, mapping our ecosystem, and setting a shared direction.
We kicked off by generating a shared timeline for change, reflecting on progress achieved by ENS and Statefree to date, and identifying priority goals and actions for the future. This was followed by an inspiring keynote by Sham Jaff who shared her insights on how to speak so the world listens, before we ended the day with a participatory reflection that gathered together everyone’s input and ideas for future collaboration.
Day 2 - New pathways to statelessness identification and protection
On the second day, we welcomed over 40 additional participants from civil society, academia, and the donor community, as well as representatives from national and regional institutions, including the Council of Europe, OSCE and the EU Asylum Agency, as well as from the German Government.
We started Day 2 with two important keynote presentations. Firstly, Tayo Awosusi reminded us of the importance of inclusion and co-creation in driving meaningful and lasting change, drawing on examples of activism and changemaking led by Roma and Sinti communities in Germany and beyond. Then Ferda Ataman, Germany’s Federal Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, surveyed the situation in Germany, highlighting gaps in the legislative framework and reflecting that in Germany, “125,000 people without nationality equates to a whole city excluded form participation”.
The morning concluded with a wide-ranging panel discussion on the future of statelessness protection in Europe, including a tour of the current protection landscape across Europe through our recently updated thematic Index briefing covering 34 countries. There followed a series of ‘lightening talks’ giving examples of tools and initiatives around Europe driving forward change and innovation. Statefree presented their prototype digital case assistant aiming to help stateless people navigate procedures in Germany. We highlighted our ENS toolkit to identify and address statelessness, which is already supporting practitioners in 5 countries, and we are fundraising to roll out further. Other talks covered successful strategic litigation in Czechia, which has achieved better access to protection for stateless people through the courts, and the role of local municipalities in the Netherlands who took their own initiative to improve identification of statelessness when central government was lagging behind.
In the afternoon, breakout groups covered a deep dive into statelessness determination in Germany, how we move from policy to practice in implementing the new EU Migration & Asylum Pact, how to address childhood statelessness in Europe, and how to build truly intersectional procedures through which no one is left behind. The work of the day was wrapped up with a participatory discussion to share insights, reflections, and key takeaways. Before heading off for some well-earned rest, participants had the opportunity to take part in one of the most joyful moments of the conference: a creative workshop celebrating rhythm, movement, and connection through Dabke dance.
Day 3 – Statelessness Innovation Labs & building a new future together
The final day of the conference enabled us to build on the previous days’ discussions through a series of thematic innovation labs seeking to identify concrete areas of action and create a shared vision for our work in the future.
After starting the day with a musical performance by the talented Douniah, we split into five breakouts discussing topics including protection pathways for Palestinians in Europe, tech and data innovations, community lawyering, storytelling, and intersectional justice. We then came back in plenary to end the conference with a closing panel on the future we build together. Speakers touched on how to harness community leadership, technology, and innovative partnerships to reimagine solutions to statelessness.
Before saying our goodbyes, we enjoyed a final moment of togetherness listening to a joyful and energetic musical performance by Mal Élevé, Ezé and Statefree community member Prince.
Finding joy and inspiration in struggle – the road ahead
I travelled home reflecting on what an amazing, inspiring, energising, exhausting, challenging but ultimately hugely fulfilling three days we spent together in Berlin. In this short piece it is impossible to convey the sheer breadth and depth of what we covered and learnt from one another.
But perhaps what resonates most for me in the immediate aftermath of the conference is the joy that participants were able to find despite the difficult issues we were discussing, notwithstanding the huge personal challenges that those directly impacted by statelessness experience on a daily basis. How these community members are able to carry all of that and yet still find the inner strength to contribute to and lead changemaking efforts is truly awe-inspiring, and a source of huge inspiration in these challenging times in which we all live and work.
An important highlight of the conference was seeing so many new relationships and alliances formed between community members and civil society organisations (both within and outside our Network), as well as with other allies and stakeholders in the room. Of course, finding this connectivity, solidarity, and shared sense of direction is only one step towards securing the change we want to see, but it is such a vital one.
I left Berlin still mindful of the challenges we face in our work – in particular diminishing resources and shrinking civic space – but at the same time feeling energised and with increased clarity about how to successfully navigate the road ahead.
Images: Max Klemp
