Retrieved from Info 24 portal for our region
The panel discussion entitled ”Let’s stop statelessness among children in Europe“ has been organised today by the Youth Office, City Municipality Palilula in the Cultural Centre Palilula.
”We have organised an info-day about statelessness to inform you about the problems encountered by stateless people in Serbia and in the world and the related consequences. In addition to the lecture, we have prepared visually attractive postcards and a video created by the European Network on Statelessness, which also launched the campaign No Child Should be Stateless. This campaign calls on all the European countries to regulate their laws to finally solve the problem of statelessness“, said Ambassador Ivana Radojković at the panel discussion.
Who are stateless persons?
A stateless person is someone who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law. The problem of statelessness in Serbia mostly affects the members of Roma community. Those who are not registered in birth registry books have remained also without citizenship. Other groups of people are in a similar position: those whose fact of citizenship is not registered into registry books despite the existing basis for acquiring citizenship, those who were registered in destroyed or missing registry books and those who remained without citizenship or acquired citizenship of the country in which they do not live due to the breakup of the SFRY. All these persons are at risk of statelessness, and there are many children among them.
”One of our basic programmes is education for youth about different topics and areas of social life. The Municipality of Palilula has many refugees and displaced people settled in its territory. We have recognised the need for their integration into society and therefore we inform and educate young people about this topic. There is a large number of young people, students from the secondary school in Palilula, and YO volunteers“, stated YO Coordinator, Aleksandra Saša Petrović.
What is citizenship?
Citizenship is a legally recognised link between individuals and a state. Based on such legally recognised link and status of a citizen, an individual acquires the rights guaranteed by the legal system of his or her state, but also assumes certain obligations. Living without citizenship is associated with a number of difficulties. The unresolved status of citizenship inevitably entails the inability to access all rights conditioned by citizenship. It means that you cannot finish school, that you do not have social assistance, that your health care is limited, etc., as explained at the panel discussion.
Therefore, in order to prevent statelessness among children, it is necessary to ensure that every child is registered immediately at birth irrespective of the status of parents.
