Thread by @ENStatelessness

Here's a situation update from the ground on issues facing #stateless people trapped by the conflict in Ukraine.
statelessness.eu/updates/blog/a…

🧵[THREAD] Main concerns raised by our Ukrainian member @R2Protection [1/9]

Number of #stateless people prior to conflict was relatively high.
Low estimate puts it at 35,000, but likely much higher including those at risk of statelessness due to lack of documents: eg. 40-80,000 Roma, large % of children born in Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk. [2/9]

Most stateless people assisted by @R2protection have not been displaced so far. Only 24 (17%) of the 138 people R2P has been able to reach so far have fled in search of safer settlements. Only 6 of those have crossed the Ukrainian border and flee to EU countries. [3/9]

Here are some of the most common profiles:
- individuals who had an USSR passports but later became undocumented
- internally displaced from the occupied territories who moved to Ukraine between 2014 and 2020
- children who moved to Ukraine with their parents after 1991 [4/9]

Only 6,047 stateless people were legally residing in Ukraine at the end of 2021, meaning that their status was formally determined via the recently introduced statelessness determination process (SDP). index.statelessness.eu/country/ukraine [5/9]

Even when recognised stateless people will only get a temporary residence permit. This is a problem because it is unclear whether EU conutries will considere this as a document confirming “equivalent national protection in Ukraine" under the Temporary Protection Directive. [6/9]

People with undefined nationality displaced within Ukraine are facing obstacles to register as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) which limits their access to the protection guaranteed to other IDPs in Ukraine. [7/9]

There are currently many internal checkpoints (“blockposts”) all around Ukraine. An identity document may be required to pass a checkpoint. Most of the statelessness project’s beneficiaries do not have any document that identifies them. [8/9]

Documentation problems faced by stateless people have become more complicated because services to address/solve these are currently not functional.

It's also not clear whether stateless people who have fled Ukraine will be able to return. [9/9]

Small correction here, not all of the 6k+ legally residing stateless people were recognised as stateless under the SDP - only 55 people have been recognised as stateless under the SDP since it became operational in 2021, and around 800 people have applied.