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Protecting stateless persons during the war: Ukrainian context and expert recommendations

October 6, 2023

Due to the challenges that stateless people face with their lack of or limited documentation, many of those living in war-torn Ukraine have been unable to flee; they also face obstacles in seeking international protection and are often unable to receive humanitarian aid. Despite the gravity of the situation, however, the issue is not receiving sufficient attention.

Statelessness has a grave impact on millions of people worldwide, depriving them of fundamental rights such as identity, education, child protection, development, health care, employment, property, freedom of movement and freedom from arbitrary detention.

Efforts to enable the voices of stateless people in Ukraine to be heard are not new and may indeed have had a positive impact on domestic policy, which now recognises that stateless people exist and may have rights. At the same time, there are still barriers to exercising these rights, notwithstanding the legal and policy changes. 

To assist stateless persons and contribute to the eradication of statelessness in Ukraine, the following should be done:

• address the barriers that endanger stateless people in Ukraine in order to ensure access to humanitarian aid and safe passage;
• ensure an inclusive, human rights-based response in Europe. Everyone fleeing the war in Ukraine should be guaranteed access to the territory of Europe regardless of documentation or residence status, as mandated by the EU and UNHCR, and in line with the principles of international law including the right to claim asylum;
  
• make progress on a comprehensive, integrated approach to preventing and ending statelessness. In March 2023, R2P gathered representatives from the Ukrainian government, UNHCR and civil society. This consultation paved the way for further steps towards ending statelessness in Ukraine, including commitments to: identify and recognise all stateless people in Ukraine; document the different profiles of stateless people; address possible gaps that could create new statelessness cases; and elaborate a joint roadmap to resolve existing cases and prevent new cases.
  

More information about the problems of stateless persons and recommendations for elimination and resolving the issue of statelessness in Ukraine can be found in the article The forgotten victims of war: Ukraine’s stateless, published in the September issue of the Forced Migration Review (FMR). The co-author of the text was Sofia Kordonets, Head of Legal Assistance to Stateless Persons Program at R2P.

To download the expert article, please follow the link below:

"The forgotten victims of war: Ukraine’s stateless" by Aleksejs Ivashuk, Sofiia Kordonets and Jyothi Kanics

Download

Forced Migration Review provides a forum for the regular exchange of practical experience, information, and ideas between researchers, refugees, internally displaced persons and those who work with them. It is published in several languages by the Oxford Refugee Studies Centre of the Oxford Department of International Development, University of Oxford.