The second panel of our #StatelessJourneys event highlighted the perspectives of stateless changemakers and community activists. We are incredibly grateful for their honest accounts of the issue and insights on how to instigate positive change at the grassroots.
.@LynnAlKhatib2 co-facilitated the discussion, focusing on how do we get to a place where policy makers talk and listen to stateless people and communities affected by statelessness.
.@RoSirazulIslam is Youth Director of @BritishRohingya and one of the changemakers involved in our #StatelessJourneys campaign. Sirazul shared his experience on how to bridge the gap between decision-makers and people affected by #statelessness in his community.
Founder of The Palestinian Youth League in Belgium, Omar Othman gave an inspiring account of his personal experience and how he campaigned with other community members for change in Belgium.
.@aleksandra_sgk talked about the grassroots work she’s been doing to gather perspectives of stateless people in Spain. She is leading by example in centring the voices of those with lived experience & we’re proud to be working with her on the #StatelessJourneys campaign.
.@KordonetsSofiia from @R2Protection gave a timely account of the situation for stateless refugees on the ground in Ukraine. She shared her insights on the need for collaboration between stateless changemakers and wider civil society in the Ukraine context.
Finally, a big thanks to Aleksejs from @ApatrideNetwork for speaking about the importance of involving stateless people in discussions and decision making & nationality as a sense of belonging.
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We’re marking our 10th anniversary this year! 🥳
It’s hard to capture the last ten years in a Twitter thread, but here goes nothing... Our journey in 15 tweets. 👇🧵
It’s 10 years since a group of 6 orgs came together to establish ENS.
A decade later we now have 170+ members in 41 countries.
We also have hundreds of partners & thousands of supporters who are all part of our journey seeking to end #statelessnessstatelessness.eu/about/members
In 2013 we published our first publication – a guide on statelessness determination procedures providing practical support to states wanting to do more to address the issue. Fast-forward to 2022, our website now includes over 150 publications & 450+ blogs statelessness.eu/updates
We’re hugely grateful to all of our wonderful speakers from last week’s #StatelessJourneys campaign launch. Thank you for supporting this work and for demonstrating your commitment to fix protection gaps for #stateless refugees in Europe.
Hear from each of them below. 🧵
The first panel brough together high-level representatives and officials from European institutions to discuss why Europe must act now to better protect stateless refugees.
.@GillianTriggs Assistant High Commissioner @Refugees highlighted the need to maintain strong focus on #statelessness and build new partnerships in the next phase of the fight to eradicate #statelessness. Thanks Gillian for the ongoing strong collaboration.
Big smiles on the ENS assembly line getting ready for the launch of our #StatelessJourneys campaign here in Brussels today! 😃
Looking forward to seeing many of you soon to talk about how we can ensure proper protection for stateless refugees!
Folks are starting to arrive! Possibly most excited to welcome members of our stateless change-makers network!
These awesome activists are here so EU decision makers can hear their perspectives on what needs to change for stateless people to thrive in Europe!
And we’re also delighted to welcome @GillianTriggs Assistant Secretary General & Assistant High Commissioner for Protection at the UN refugee agency - here kindly giving us an interview about protecting stateless refugees making #StatelessJourneys into Europe
🧵[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]