As a part of the project directed at reduction and prevention of statelessness in Serbia, funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in December 2010 Praxis issued a report entitled “Persons at Risk of Statelessness in Serbia”. Purpose of this report is to make visible persons who are facing obstacles in the Republic of Serbia in exercising right to citizenship and to point to necessity of solving their problems which have been left aside for too long.
The report deals with the right to a nationality, first as prescribed by the international law and then as prescribed by the legal system of Serbia, stating more precisely basic ways of acquiring citizenship of the Republic of Serbia and introducing the situation of persons who are between statelessness and nationality.
Main part of the report is focused on identified obstacles in exercise of right to nationality in Serbia, as well as the categories of persons who are most affected by these obstacles and thus left at risk of statelessness. Supported by a number of individual case studies, the report illustrates the consequences of lack of citizenship, that is, deprivation of rights which such persons are facing.
Finally, the report contains recommendations for overcoming identified obstacles that would contribute to preventing and reducing statelessness in Serbia.
