None of Europe's Children Should be Stateless"
Budapest, 2-3 June 2015
The United Nations estimates that a child is born stateless, somewhere in the 
world, every ten minutes. States are failing to fulfil the right of every child to acquire a nationality – a fundamental children's right, laid down in the Convention in the Rights of the Child. In this region too, statelessness continues to arise because European states are failing to ensure that all children born within Europe's borders or to European citizen parents acquire a nationality. For those affected, statelessness can mean lack of access to other rights and services, denied opportunities, unfulfilled potential and a sense of never quite belonging. It brings hardship and anguish to children and their parents alike.
The European Network on Statelessness (ENS) is campaigning for an end to childhood statelessness in Europe. This goal is also central to the #ibelong campaign, spearheaded by UNHCR, to end all statelessness globally by 2024. To realise children's right to a nationality in Europe, the phenomenon and the challenges need to be better understood. Different stakeholders must also unite to identify and share good practices so that these challenges can be addressed.
This conference is a central activity of the ENS campaign "None of Europe's Children should be Stateless". It will provide a platform for sharing new research on the causes and impact of childhood statelessness in Europe. It will also provide a forum for the sharing of knowledge on legal, policy and programming interventions that can help to realise children's right to a nationality. It is a venue for scholars, practitioners and policy makers to come together and discuss how to ensure that no more of Europe's children suffer statelessness. The conference will last a day and a half, commencing in the morning of June 2nd and running until lunchtime on June 3rd. The first day will focus on sharing information on challenges, opportunities and good practices through presentations and panel discussions. The second day will be more forward-looking and encourage participants, on the basis of the lessons learned, to jointly identify potential areas for further action and collaboration to end childhood statelessness in Europe.
Call for Papers
The call for papers for this conference is now open. We welcome submissions for presentations by scholars and practitioners, dealing with research, policy or projects that relate to childhood statelessness in Europe. Presentations may focus on a specific country or group of countries, or consider a particular theme. We are particularly interested in presentations that identify good practices with respect to the prevention of childhood statelessness and those which provide a further insight into the impact of statelessness on children in Europe. We also welcome presentations that explore the role of different stakeholders in addressing the issue, including actors such as child rights organisations, legal aid providers, ombudspersons and National Human Rights Institutions, EU and Council of Europe bodies and journalists.
To submit a proposal to present at this conference, please send the following information to info@statelessness.eu before 15 February 2015: your name, affiliation, country of work and email address, an abstract of your proposed presentation (max. 250 words) and 5-8 accompanying keywords. ENS will inform you by 1 March 2015 whether your proposal has been accepted.
A more detailed conference announcement, including information about the programme, speakers and how to register, will be issued in March through the ENS website (www.Statelessness.eu) and mailing list. Please note that there is no registration fee for the conference but speakers and general participants will be required to cover all costs related to their travel to and lodging in Budapest.
About the European Network on Statelessness (ENS)
ENS is a network of NGOs, academic initiatives and individual experts committed to addressing statelessness in Europe – currently with over 90 members in more than 30 European countries. This year's ENS Annual General meeting will take place immediately after the conference during the afternoon of 3 June 2015. This is only open to ENS members but details on how to join the network are available on the ENS website here – we would particularly welcome applications from child rights organisations. For further information contact ENS Director Chris Nash at chris.nash@statelessness.eu
Download a PDF of the conference announcement here
The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion is an expert partner for the ENS campaign "None of Europe's Children Should be Stateless".
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