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29 August 2016
© UNICEF/UNI197921/Schermbrucker
Measures to prevent childhood statelessness
Verena Knaus
A surge in the numbers of children seeking asylum in Europe
Number of asylum seekers in 32 European countries, by age, 2008-2016
505 635 975
3.115
4.315
6.395
3.995
1.255 1.390 1.420 1.640
3.270
6.445
7.620
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
First time asylum applications in the EU by children recorded as stateless or with
unknown nationality. Source eurostat
Stateless Unkown nationality
First time asylum applications in the EU by children recorded
as stateless or with unknown nationality, 2010-2016
Source Eurostat
Example Estonia – with over 85,000stateless persons Estonia is home toone of the largest stateless populations
Example Italy – approx. 15,000 Romachildren at risk of statelessness
In 2016, approx. 2.5% of first time asylumapplicants in Europe were recorded as‘stateless’ or of ‘unknown citizenship’ -including at least 11,315 children.
Measures to prevent childhood statelessness – UNICEF for every child
Children born stateless outsideEurope and on the move
Children born stateless in EuropeBram and Xandra (2)
Measures to prevent childhood statelessness – UNICEF for every child
Children at risk due to lack of birth registration
Siba (3)
Who are the children most at risk in Europe?
Besim (8)
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Behind the numbers
“If only I had registered mydaughter at birth, I wouldhave won the case. I would
have protected her.”
Mukasa, from Uganda, who tried to provethat his 13-year-old daughter was a childwhen she was sexually abused.
• Click to edit Master text styles
6
RISKS
education
opportunities
Health care
Child
Protection
Social
Inclusion
in limbo
Measures to prevent childhood statelessness – UNICEF for every child
Abuse and
violence
DETENTION
ENDING CHILDHOOD STATELESSNESS IS POSSIBLE
7 Title of Presentation – UNICEF for every child
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Global data
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8 Measures to prevent childhood statelessness – UNICEF for every child
99,4
88,1
99,4 99,7
95,392,9
94,5
98,4
85
90
95
100
Serbia Kosovo Montenegro former YugoslavRepublic ofMacedonia
Percentage of children under age 5 whose births are reported registered
Source: MICS, UNICEF
National porcentage Roma Settlement porcentage
Europe data
Closing the gap on birth regisation is possible
What should and can be done ?
• Ensure that every child born on their territory is registered immediatelyat birth and issued a birth certificate;
• Grant nationality automatically at birth (or as soon as possible) tochildren born stateless in its territory;
• Ensure that stateless children are identified and recorded;
• Establish a formal statelessness determination procedure;
• Regulate and improve the status of stateless persons and preventviolations of rights due to discrimination;
• Ensure naturalisation procedures for stateless children are in place;
• Ensure specialized agencies such as Frontex, EASO and FRAsystematically include the identification and protection of statelesschildren and the prevention of statelessness in their work & trainings;
• Encourage and improve disaggregated data collection by age and sexrelated to statelessness.
9
UNICEF –UNHCR Coalition on Every Child’s Right to a Nationality
Target countries in Europe:
• Norway
• Netherlands
• Albania
• Romania
• Serbia
• FYR Macedonia
• Kosovo
Objectives of the Coalition:
• raise awareness about childhood statelessness.
• Ensure that no child is born stateless
• Eliminate laws and practices that deny children nationality on discriminatory grounds
• Remove gender discrimination from nationality laws
• Improve birth registration to prevent statelessness
• Encourage States to accede to the UN Statelessness Conventions
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Thank You
Verena Knaus
Senior Policy Advisor,
UNICEF Brussels
11 Measures to prevent childhood statelessness – UNICEF for every child
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