Is Europe falling behind on statelessness determination and protection?

Events
14 September 2021 14:00 - 15:00 CEST

On Tuesday 14 September (14.00-15.00 CEST) you are invited to attend a webinar marking the publication of a new Statelessness Index briefing on statelessness determination and protection in Europe.

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Stateless people face the risk of rights violations every day. The main reason for this is that most European states still don’t have an established process to identify stateless people and provide them with a route out of limbo.

All states should have a formal statelessness determination procedure that is fair, efficient, and easily accessible. This would allow them to identify and determine who is stateless, and then grant them adequate protection status and rights. Our new briefing shows that some countries have recently taken positive steps towards this goal, but many are falling behind in fulfilling their international obligations.

The speakers will discuss good practice and challenges with examples from countries around Europe. We will hear about the impact on stateless migrants and refugees of not having adequate routes to protection in place, about some of the challenges of introducing new procedures, and the benefits of having a procedure. The event will also discuss how to galvanise action at national and regional levels to ensure that States and regional institutions take steps to improve the protection available to stateless people and resolve statelessness. The event and our new briefing are intended to help prepare the ground for a major regional intergovernmental conference on statelessness organised by the Council of Europe and UNHCR which will take place in Strasbourg on 23/24 September.

The webinar and briefing are aimed at those working on statelessness, with migrants and refugees, as well as representatives of refugee, migrant and stateless communities, lawyers, civil society, regional institutions, State authorities, UN agencies, and others with an interest in the issue.

Speakers

Lynn Khatib

Lynn Khatib

Individual ENS Member & Stateless Activist, Sweden

Marlotte Van Dael

Marlotte Van Dael

ASKV Refugee Support, The Netherlands

Christophe Poirel

Christophe Poirel

Director of Human Rights, Council of Europe

Patricia Cabral

Patricia Cabral

Legal Policy Officer, European Network on Statelessness 

Nina Murray

Nina Murray

Head of Policy & Research, European Network on Statelessness

About the Briefing

This webinar will launch a thematic Statelessness Index briefing examining how law, policy, and practice in the 27 countries featured in the Statelessness Index perform against international norms and good practice on statelessness determination and the protection of stateless people, and recommends key actions needed to improve the protection of stateless migrants and refugees in Europe.

The briefing is the third in a series of thematic briefings developed by the European Network on Statelessness using data from its Statelessness Index, a comparative online tool that assesses European countries’ law, policy and practice on the protection of stateless people and the prevention and reduction of statelessness.

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