I am a fourth-generation migrant on my mother’s side. Even though I couldn’t acquire my Canadian mother’s nationality at birth, I was protected from statelessness – I acquired citizenship through my US-citizen father and through birth on the territory of the US.
In some circumstances, family migration and having parents of different nationalities can lead to statelessness, but I was a US citizen from birth because of US laws that help prevent statelessness, and I now have three nationalities. When I was born, Canadian law, like that of many countries, generally didn’t allow children born outside Canada to acquire nationality through their mothers. As an adult, I acquired British nationality (after marrying a British citizen and living in the UK); and I received a certificate of Canadian citizenship in 2023 (by which time the discriminatory provisions of Canadian nationality law that prevented me from acquiring my mother’s nationality at birth had been amended).
I have met hundreds of stateless people through my work on statelessness and related issues over the past decade, and it feels immensely unfair that I have three nationalities, while some people have no nationality at all. I am keenly aware of the devastating hardships that lack of nationality can entail for children, such as living in poverty and insecurity for extended periods, being denied educational and other opportunities, being subjected to arbitrary detention, and being unable to access healthcare or social security if needed. I know how fortunate I am to have benefitted from good practices to prevent statelessness.
With this in mind, I am pleased to have had the opportunity to work as a consultant on a report published in July 2025, Opening Doors for Children: Prevention of Childhood Statelessness - Good Practices in the OSCE Area, prepared in collaboration with colleagues at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and High Commissioner for National Minorities (HCNM), and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The report encourages OSCE-participating States to take action to ensure that children do not suffer the preventable hardships of growing up without a nationality. The report summarises relevant laws and principles, lists key indicators for identifying statelessness, provides examples of good practices, and recommends various measures to protect children from statelessness. The report cites actions that have been taken to prevent statelessness in various States, including for example, legislative changes and outreach efforts in Kyrgyzstan, which became the first country to resolve all known cases of statelessness in 2019. Other examples explored include legislative changes in Kazakhstan, North Macedonia, Lithuania, and Albania which help protect children from statelessness; Portugal’s ‘Born a citizen’ programme; Finland’s and Spain’s nationality determination procedures and other protections against statelessness; legislative changes and a legal clinic in Canada that operates with legal aid and poverty reduction funding to assist marginalised people to resolve and prevent identity issues; and various other examples of good practices.
The report also makes a number of recommendations to States on how to prevent childhood statelessness including, for example:
- Acceding to and complying with the 1954 and 1961 United Nations statelessness conventions, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other international treaties;
- Adopting and implementing effective laws, policies and practices to ensure universal birth registration and protect children’s right to a nationality;
- Eliminating barriers to birth registration and nationality, such as administrative fees;
- Providing training for government officials and others who may encounter stateless children;
- Providing relevant information to parents of stateless children;
- Collaborating with other governments, international organisations, and civil society; and
- Consulting with and implementing recommendations by stateless people and other experts.
The report emphasises that it is vital to include and value the expertise of people affected by statelessness and representatives of affected communities. It is also essential that measures to address statelessness take into account the realities of being stateless – for example, that some stateless people may not have birth certificates or documents proving their lack of nationality; some may be suffering the effects of trauma and marginalisation and may not be able to tell their life stories in coherent or linear ways; and some may not be able to pay administrative fees or for travel to an interview with a government official.
Armando Augello Cupi, founder of the first stateless-led organisation in Italy, Unione Italiana Apolidi, said at the launch of the report:
“As a person who was stateless for most of my life, I believe that sharing national good practices - and critically reflecting on them - can inspire more effective, rights-based systems to prevent statelessness at birth.”
Panellists at the launch of the report urged States to join the Global Alliance to End Statelessness and take other actions to prevent childhood statelessness. The Alliance aims to unite people working around the world to address statelessness and foster sharing of information, collaboration, innovation, and concrete action to eradicate statelessness.
As most of us now know, there are huge benefits to protecting children from statelessness – among them: individual children have an enhanced opportunity to thrive and can develop a sense of belonging and security; and intergenerational statelessness is ended, benefitting families and communities.
The report quotes a young person affected by statelessness, who said:
“My father used to say, when someone has citizenship, it opens thousands of doors....”
We know that it is possible to establish laws, policies and procedures that effectively prevent childhood statelessness. I hope that the report will encourage governments to enhance their efforts to address statelessness, so that the doors of the world will be open to all children.
About the author
Cynthia Orchard worked as a consultant on the Opening Doors report and spoke at the report’s launch event in Vienna in July, along with Armando Augello Cupi (Founder of Unione Italiana Apolidi), Christophe Kamp (OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities), Maria Telalian (Director of ODIHR), Dejan Kladarin (Head of UNHCR’s Liaison Office to the OSCE and Vienna-based UN Agencies), Ambassador Vesa Häkkinen (Permanent Representative of Finland to the OSCE and Chair of the Permanent Council), and Philippe Leclerc (Director UNHCR Regional Bureau for Europe). Separately from this project, Cynthia is the Manager of the Refugee Law Clinic at the University of London and is an individual member of ENS. She thanks colleagues at ODIHR, HCNM, and UNHCR who collaborated on the report, as well as the stateless changemakers and other experts who contributed.
Image: At the report launch in Vienna, 25 July 2025, from left to right: Sophie Hofbauer, UNHCR: Senior Liaison Associate; Dejan Kladarin, UNHCR: Head, Liaison Office to the OSCE and Vienna-based UN Offices; Beata Bislim Olahova, ODIHR: Advisor on Roma and Sinti Issues; Christophe Kamp, OSCE: High Commissioner on National Minorities; Philippe Leclerc, UNHCR: Regional Director for Europe; Mitra Jalali, OSCE: Senior Legal Adviser; Armando Augello Cupi, founder of Unione Italiana Apolidi; Cynthia Orchard, Consultant researcher; Asiya Yulamanova, OSCE: Internal Communications Assistant (and designer of report cover)
