It may sound almost impossible in the 21st century but millions of people around the world are denied a nationality and cannot access even basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement. Without an ID, they cannot legally marry and face a lifetime of obstacles and disappointment. The United Nations Refugee Agency, also known as the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, has a mandate on identification, prevention, reduction of statelessness and protection of stateless persons.
After the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, thousands of stateless people emerged on the territories of 15 new independent states because of the complex migration processes and adoption of national citizenship laws in different months and years. More than 250,000 formerly deported Crimean Tatars and their descendants returned to Ukraine. Those who came back to the Crimean peninsula after August 1991 had to acquire Ukrainian citizenship while they also had to renounce the citizenship of countries of departure (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Georgia). The Ukrainian government requested UNHCR assistance in their reintegration. This is a key reason why the UNHCR established its presence in Ukraine 25 years ago.
In the early 1990s, UNHCR assisted Ukraine in developing new citizenship legislation that would prevent applicants from becoming stateless at any point in the process. The organization also helped to facilitate the conclusion of the 1999 bilateral agreement between Ukraine and Uzbekistan on simplified procedures for changing citizenship.
UNHCR started providing legal assistance to individuals in 1996. Until now more than 100,000 persons were assisted in acquiring Ukrainian citizenship and obtaining Ukrainian passports.
In Ukraine, the administrative procedures for establishing someone’s identity, citizenship, obtaining a birth certificate, or its duplicate are complex and not easily accessible in the practice because they are complex, costly, and lengthy and involve dealing with foreign consulates. The owners of the U.S.S.R. passports have to confirm their residence in Ukraine as of August or November 1991 in order to obtain a Ukrainian passport at the State Migration Service of Ukraine. For that, they need to collect evidence, communicate with state bodies and court procedures, pay advocates and court fees. Some people have tried to obtain a Ukrainian passport for 20 years; often they simply gave up.
Many persons without documents and with undetermined nationality belong to marginalized groups in Ukraine, like Roma for example. Many of them are illiterate and live below the poverty line. Once, a Roma man in Mukacheve told the lawyer that he does not remember his date of birth, all he knew was: “my mother told me that it was during the winter and the snow was falling.” As they lack the necessary documents to prove their vulnerability, they are excluded from the government free legal aid, they have problems to apply for a birth registration certificate, its duplicate, or a passport. If procedures for establishing the identity of people with undetermined nationality are not simplified, people from marginalized groups will not be able to get a proper status and dignified life.
From June 2017 until November 2020, UNHCR spent more than $1.5 million to provide legal aid and represent stateless persons and persons with undetermined nationality in the state bodies and courts in Ukraine. To fulfill its mandate on statelessness, UNHCR is currently assisted by 18 lawyers who work in three NGO partners, covering six different regions.
In 2014, UNHCR adopted a Global Action Plan to End Statelessness and launched the #IBelong campaign with the goal of ending statelessness within ten years. As we enter the seventh year of the campaign, what are the key achievements for Ukraine?
On June 16, 2020, the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, adopted the law № 693-IX introducing the Stateless Determination Procedure in Ukraine, completing the legal framework after Ukraine acceded to two United Nations conventions on statelessness in 2013. This is a great achievement. The law will give thousands of stateless people regardless of the lawfulness of their stay in Ukraine a chance to obtain a residence permit, access to their rights, and will ultimately provide a pathway to citizenship, once they are recognized as stateless.
It is crucial that the law is implemented soon. UNHCR provided its expertise on drafting the SDP by-law as per international best practice and we hope that it will be adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers shortly.
In parallel, efforts are still needed in Ukraine to ensure that children born in the non-government-controlled parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts obtain Ukrainian birth certificates. Without birth certificates, they are at risk of statelessness. UNHCR estimates that, as of October 2020, approximately 60,000 children born in non-government-controlled areas have not yet obtained a Ukrainian birth certificate. UNHCR continues to advocate for the simplification of birth registration so that the procedure is responsive to the specific needs of families in this part of the Donbas.
Being stateless is a tragedy as you constantly live in the shadow without any support or protection. You are invisible. As the world struggles through the COVID-19 pandemics, it is especially important to protect each and every person so that stateless people have equal access with others to essential services, including health care and access to coronavirus testing and treatment.
Dmytro Plechko is an associate legal officer for the United Nations High Commission on Refugees.
