Today the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) which represents over fifty civil society organisations from across Europe including Praxis will hand over a petition to members of the European Parliament calling on European leaders to protect stateless persons by ratifying the UN Statelessness Convention and committing to set up a system of safeguards and a regularisation procedure.
 
The petition coincides with the 60th anniversary of the 1954 UN Statelessness Convention, and is a part of a wider campaign bringing together a broad spectrum of actors mounting pressure on the European Union to fulfil its pledge made in 2012 that all EU Member States would accede to the 1954 Statelessness Convention. This campaign will see national level events in Belgium, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Poland and Slovakia among other countries.
 
As part of its campaign to protect stateless persons in Europe, ENS has prepared a report Still Stateless, Still Suffering – Why Europe must act now to protect stateless persons, which contain testimonies of stateless persons.
 
“For too long Europe has allowed stateless individuals to be exposed to human rights abuses and with no recourse to justice. Now is the time to resolve this issue once and for all”, said Chris Nash Director of the European Network on Statelessness. “Stateless individuals often face years of uncertainty, destitution and repeated, lengthy immigration detention. Yet the solution is a relatively simple one. Ratifying conventions is an essential first step, which most EU states have already taken, but must be followed by the introduction of identification and regularisation procedures which are critical to helping stateless persons re-build their lives.”
 

* The European Network on Statelessness (ENS) is a network of non-governmental organisations, academic initiatives, and individual experts committed to address statelessness in Europe. Based in London, ENS is a coordinating body and expert resource for organisations across Europe who work with or come into contact with stateless persons. It currently has 53 member organisations in over 30 European countries.