Explore the resources and tools designed to protect the rights of stateless refugees and prevent new cases of statelessness arising in the migration context in Europe.

Statelessness: A short guide for refugee response actors in Europe

Guide 
[Photo: Greece. Accommodation scheme transfers Palestinian-Syrian family from residential container to Athens apartment; © UNHCR/Alfredo D'Amato

Addressing statelessness in Europe’s refugee response: Gaps and Opportunities

Briefing 

From Syria to Europe: Experiences of Stateless Kurds and Palestinian Refugees from Syria Seeking Protection in Europe

report 

Statelessness: A short guide for refugees and asylum seekers

Guide 
Woman by the sea

Palestinians and the search for protection as refugees and stateless persons in Europe

Briefing report 
Rohingya Refugees Camp

Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Myanmar

Country Position Paper 
Yousra Owayed, 31, holds her baby Nour in the kitchen of the apartment in Chios she and her husband received through UNHCR. The family of seven are members of Kuwait's stateless Bidoon community. They arrived by sea from Turkey to Greece in July 2018. ; UNHCR works with the Greek Government, local authorities and NGOs to provide urban accommodation and cash assistance to refugees and asylum-seekers in Greece. By the end of October 2018, UNHCR had created nearly 26,000 places in the accommodation scheme as part of the Emergency Support To Integration and Accommodation programme (ESTIA). As of late-October 2018, there were just under 4,000 asylum-seekers on the eastern Aegean island of Chios. The reception centre in Vial hosts more than 2,000 people, double its capacity. Living conditions are poor and among the asylum-seekers are unaccompanied children, pregnant women, people with disabilities and survivors of sexual violence. Some 35,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Greece between January and September 2018 – an increase of 48 per cent compared to 2017.

Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Kuwait

Country Position Paper 
Man with ID card

Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Syria

Country Position Paper 
Selwa (left), with her daughters, holding her newly issued Iraqi ID card at their home in Basra, Iraq. So far, four members of the family have been granted nationality, while the process for their remaining eight children is still ongoing. ; Southern Iraq is home to around 160,000 members of the Bidoon community, who arrived in large numbers from Kuwait following the 1991 Gulf War. Short for bidoon jinsiya (‘without nationality’ in Arabic), they are a stateless minority who mostly live on the margins of society, with no identity documents or access to basic services including education and health care. With funding from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, Iraqi NGO Mercy Hands has been working since 2017 to help members of the estimated 30,000-strong Bidoon community around the southern city of Basra to acquire Iraqi nationality and identity papers. Its small team of lawyers has so far helped some 500 families to gain their nationality, a legal process that can take up to a year. As citizens they are able to move around freely without fear of being caught without papers, access medical treatment and register their children for school.

Country Position Paper: Statelessness in Iraq

Country Position Paper 

Country Position Paper: Iran

Country Position Paper 
Infographic

Infographics on statelessness

Infographic 
Man at prison

Protecting Stateless Persons from Arbitrary Detention

report toolkit