Source description last updated: 26 August 2020

In brief: The European Network on Statelessness (ENS) is a network of non-governmental organisations, academic initiatives and individual experts committed to address statelessness in Europe.

Coverage on ecoi.net:

Reports for countries of priorities A-C.

Quarterly coverage on ecoi.net.

Mission/Mandate/Objectives:

“Established in 2012, the European Network on Statelessness is an open and growing civil society alliance with 150 members in over 40 countries.” (European Network on Statelessness Website: About us, undated)

“The European Network on Statelessness (ENS) is a network of non-governmental organisations, academic initiatives, and individual experts committed to address statelessness in Europe. We believe that all human beings have a right to a nationality and that those who lack nationality altogether – stateless persons – are entitled to full protection of their human rights. We are dedicated to strengthening the often unheard voice of stateless persons in Europe, and to advocate for full respect of their human rights. We aim to reach our goals by conducting and supporting legal and policy development, awareness-raising and capacity building activities.” (European Network on Statelessness Website: Mission Statement, undated)

“The European Network on Statelessness (ENS) was founded as a coordinating body and expert resource for organisations working to promote the right to a nationality. At the heart of our strategy is an understanding of the need to mainstream and raise awareness about statelessness and nationality rights, build civil society’s capacity to act, and be an effective catalyst for change.” (European Network on Statelessness: Solving Statelessness in Europe; Our strategic plan 2019-23, 2019, p. 4)

Funding:

The European Network on Statelessnes is supported by the “Oak Foundation, the Open Society Foundations, the Sigrid Rausing Trust and the UN Refugee Agency.” Their “work is also made possible through pro-bono collaborations with several companies and organisations.” (European Network on Statelessness Website: Donors, undated)

The total funds of the ENS by 31 December 2018 were £159,900, comprised of £48,614 in restricted and £111,286 in unrestricted funds. (European Network on Statelessness: Impact Report 2018, 2018, p. 7)

Scope of reporting:

Geographic focus: Europe

Thematic focus: Statelessness

Methodology:

“[…] we identify priority issues to address and focus on within four broad priority themes:

• Children’s Rights – Including access to birth registration and promoting nationality law reform to end childhood statelessness.
• Access to Justice – Including promoting legal empowerment, rule of law, and ending the detention of stateless people.
• Forced Displacement – Including responding to stateless refugees, advocating for statelessness protection regimes, and improved integration policies.
• Anti-Discrimination – Including minority rights, health rights, addressing Roma statelessness, and gender discrimination.” (European Network on Statelessness: Solving Statelessness in Europe; Our strategic plan 2019-23, 2019, p. 8)

“We seek to partner with civil society organisations and experts focused on issues that intersect with statelessness, including, among others, child rights and women’s rights experts, refugee support organisations and advocates, and minority rights specialists.” (European Network on Statelessness: Solving Statelessness in Europe; Our strategic plan 2019-23, 2019, p. 8)

“The European Network on Statelessness publishes new research and shares information on statelessness by posting links to useful resource materials [...]. ENS undertakes research to support evidence-based advocacy aimed at preventing statelessness and improving the protection of stateless persons in line with international human rights law. […] The external resources include reports, policy briefs and other items found here have been carefully selected from the wider body of available resources, due to their specific relevance to problems of statelessness in Europe. […] Further and extensive resources covering statelessness globally are available on UNHCR’s Refworld Statelessness site at http://www.refworld.org/statelessness.html.” (European Network on Statelessness Website: Resources, undated)

Languages of publications:

English, Spanish

Further reading / links:

European Network on Statelessness: Solving Statelessness in Europe; Our strategic plan 2019-23, 2019
https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/ENS-Strategic-Plan-2019-23.pdf

European Network on Statelessness: Impact Report 2018, 2018
https://www.statelessness.eu/sites/www.statelessness.eu/files/attachments/resources/ENS_Impact_Report_2018_web.pdf


All links accessed 26 August 2020.