With the support of ODHIR/ Best Practices for Roma Integration in the Western Balkans (BPRI) and UNHCR Representation in Serbia, Praxis organized a Joint Workshop of the Western Balkans Legal Aid Network (WeBLAN) and the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) on 23 April 2013 in Belgrade. The aim of the workshop was to contribute to solving the problem of stateless persons in the territory of the Western Balkans through analysis of statelessness in the countries in the region, promotion of international standards and exchange of experience and good practice examples.

Preparing for the workshop, WeBLAN members filled in a research template on statelessness, previously designed and defined in cooperation with the ENS representatives. Analysis of national legislation and situation in practice was carried out for each country in the region in order to examine the proportions of the problem of exercise of the right to a nationality and to establish which persons or groups were at risk of statelessness. An additional aim was to establish whether respective national legislations contained protection mechanisms suitable for preventing the occurrence of statelessness and to identify whether national laws contained relevant regulations or provisions that could provide adequate treatment and access to basic rights to stateless persons. Finally, the research examined the activities, initiatives or new tendencies significant for exercise of the right to a nationality, as well as engagement of state bodies aimed at solving the existing problems.

Following the introductory part of the workshop dedicated to presenting both networks and their goals and activities, WeBLAN member organizations gave their respective overviews of the most significant aspects of the stated research during the session dedicated to discrimination and statelessness. The conducted research showed that the causes of statelessness were similar in all countries of the region, that they mostly referred to failure to register the fact of birth or were a result of break-up of former Yugoslavia and migrations. Majority of persons who were not registered in birth registries or were of undetermined nationality belong to Roma population, while the statistical data on their number were either unavailable or imprecise and mostly relied on estimates of UNHCR or research of non-governmental organizations. With regard to compliance with the most important international and regional instruments, it was established that all the countries were signatories to the Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons or contained provisions in their national legislation which were in accordance with the Convention. On the other hand, the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness had been ratified only by Croatia and Serbia, while the European Convention on Nationality had been ratified only by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and Montenegro. Furthermore, a joint characteristic of all countries was lack of a statelessness determination procedure which also posed an obstacle for obtaining identification documents and access to rights guaranteed to this category of persons. Finally, the level of engagement of relevant state bodies and initiatives directed at solving the problem of persons at risk of statelessness varied from one country to another. A good practice example was the introduction of a court procedure for determination of time and place of birth in Serbia and singing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Justice and Public Administration, Ombudsperson and UNHCR with an aim to implement actual activities for resolving the problem of persons at risk of statelessness in Serbia.

During the second part of the workshop, ENS representatives gave their presentations on the issues relating to nationality, prevention of statelessness and reduction of the number of stateless persons, statelessness status determination and protection of stateless persons, strategic litigation and international advocacy for resolving the problem of statelessness. Observing the notion of statelessness, definition and concept of protection of stateless persons, it was pointed to the importance of correct understanding and defining the concept of stateless persons. Through short case studies, the most significant aspects of the definition of stateless persons were analysed and the guidelines given for their interpretation, especially in the context of when a person is not considered a citizen in accordance with the law and practice of a state. The concept of a person at risk of statelessness was particularly considered and, based on the given data from the conducted research, the existing protection mechanisms and their efficiency in terms of prevention of statelessness were analysed at the same time. Bearing in mind that none of the countries in the region has statelessness determination procedure, ENS representatives also presented the existing statelessness determination procedures at the European level, pros and cons of the legal solutions in effect, and, at the same time, provided arguments for organizations in the region that could be used when advocating for introduction of this procedure in their respective countries. Furthermore, in the context of protection of stateless persons, the significance of strategic litigation in this field was also considered and the most significant cases from the practice of the European Court of Human Rights presented. Finally, there was also a discussion about the importance of advocacy activities for resolving the problem of stateless persons at the international and regional level.

The workshop was attended by a total of 44 participants, representatives of WeBLAN member organizations, representatives of the ENS, the representatives of UNHCR offices from BiH, Montenegro, Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia, Kosovo and Italy, representatives of BPRI, OSCE Mission to Serbia, Italian Refugee Council and organization Tirana Legal Aid Society, Albania.

Presentations:
ENS, presentation of Chris Nash
ENS, presentation of Laura van Waas
ENS, presentation of Amal de Chickera
ENS, presentation of Gábor Gyulai
ENS, presentation of Maxim Ferschtman
WeBLAN, presentation of Naim Osmani, CRP Kosovo

See:
Blog by Ivanka Kostic
Blog by Laura van Waas
News on BPRI web site