Event: Europe’s Statelessness: Brief Introduction and Legal History
Date: Monday 17 February 2025
Time: 11:30 - 13:00
Venue: Valletta Campus
Speaker: Aleksejs Ivashuk (aleksejs@apatride.eu)
Discussant: Prof. David Zammit
Statelessness intersects with the most prominent challenges of today: it is simultaneously a problem in human rights, minority rights, child protection, development, justice and democracy, forced displacement, torture and inhumane treatment, racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination. It disproportionately affects the marginalised and vulnerable populations. Almost half of all stateless people are estimated to be children. The problem is growing as children born into statelessness outpace stateless people resolving their statelessness.
Statelessness means instability. In the long-term, it undermines democracy and the rule of law, fragments society, violates civil liberties, obstructs justice, and puts to question the nation-state model of governance. It entails disentrancement from the right to have rights, with people being denied basic rights and forsaken in a vicious cycle of vulnerability and unequal treatment. The stateless face many challenges, such as in accessing education, healthcare, freedom of movement, and the right to own property. Many are denied basic documents (birth, marriage, death certificates, travel documents, etc.), and are vulnerable to arbitrary arrest and detention.
Given the ubiquity of statelessness and its gravity, why is the topic poorly known? Even in Europe, a continent where state actors have repeatedly caused and maintained mass statelessness over the last century, the topic is buried away from the public. This guest lecture sheds light on the poor visibility of the subject, examining its root causes, historical contexts, legal issues and other challenges, before concluding with potential solutions.
Expectations and Goals
The participants of this guest lecture will be introduced to statelessness, its evolution as a legal concept, common misconceptions, and possible solutions. The guest lecture will focus on the following:
- Introducing key statelessness concepts to help students gain foundational insights into the topic.
- Dispelling common statelessness misconceptions, highlighting problems in statelessness data and terminology, and discussing (mis)treatment of statelessness as a marginal issue.
- Covering brief legal history of the concept of statelessness, along with the subject’s past and ongoing debates in international law, using case studies and prominent court cases that end.
- Engaging students’ critical thinking throughout the presentation and during the Q&A period.
- Concluding with forward thinking, covering a number of prospects to address statelessness.
On its website and therein accessible social media, Apatride Network has a number of resources to help learn about statelessness. The content is tailored to a diverse audience, from beginners to established experts, and includes stories, media interviews, and downloadable international conventions on statelessness.
