Apatride Network

Stateless-led Answer to Statelessness

We advance the rights of stateless people in the EU and beyond.

/ About Us

About Apatride Network

Apatride Network is run by stateless people for stateless people, providing ground-level expertise on statelessness and working to advance human rights in the European Union and beyond. We raise awareness of statelessness, challenge harmful misconceptions, and empower stateless people as active participants rather than mere objects of discussion. Our work includes advocacy, legal assistance, awareness-raising programmes, and impact-driven projects that remove barriers faced by stateless people, refugees, exiles, and other disadvantaged populations.

The European Union estimates 399,283 people that are “determined stateless or of undetermined nationality” on its territory. Most are de facto Europeans, by birth as well as ancestry, deprived of an equal right to nationality based on discrimination or bureaucratic inadequacies beyond own control. The figure is a bare minimum estimate based on incomplete data: the visibility of the issue remains poor due to lack of accountability of state actors that cause and maintain statelessness, power imbalances in narratives, and lack of representation of affected populations. The true number of people who experience statelessness, as opposed to having that experience recognised through centralised validation, remains unknown.

/ Our Work

Our International Engagements

From advocacy to innovation, Apatride Network works to address key gaps on statelessness, developing solutions shaped by lived experience and direct understanding of the issue. Our work is primarily focused on the EU, with selected global engagement.

International
Advocacy

Statelessness
Awareness Forum

Statelessness
Guest Lectures

United Nations
Collaboration

/ Our Track Record

Voicing Statelessness, Driving Impact

From our humble beginning we built a stateless-led organisation that: secured the removal of barriers to the vocational inclusion of stateless people at UNHCR; became the first stateless-led organisation to host a session in the European Parliament; influenced European banking regulations to be more accommodating to refugees and stateless people; piloted the Global Statelessness Fund that now provides funding for over 50 stateless-led organisations and advocates globally; launched the first international award dedicated to statelessness work; and more.

/ Activities and Updates

Ongoing Initiatives

Stay informed with the latest developments in our fight for the rights of stateless people across Europe and beyond.

News and Updates

Apatride Network is with Citizenship Affected Peoples Network and 10 others.

1 week ago

It was exactly two years ago today that UNHCR wrote to us:“…to briefly update you on the request below to inform you that persons applying to UNHCR who are stateless can now select ‘stateless’ as an option where the applicant is requested to indicate a nationality. We hope that this will support the inclusion of stateless persons in our workforce and look forward to further opportunities to do so.” – UNHCR, Partnership and Coordination Service, Division of External RelationsThis breakthrough removed a consequential employment barrier for stateless people applying for vacancies at the UN agency. By introducing “stateless” as a nationality-status option, UNHCR made it possible for stateless applicants to apply without being forced to select a nationality they do not possess, helping to open its recruitment system to stateless people on equitable terms. Crucially, the change was accompanied by guiding UNHCR’s HR and legal teams to appropriately and competently process stateless applicants, addressing not only the application form itself, but also the institutional procedures behind it.Over the past two years, despite countless hours of advocacy encouraging other UN agencies to adopt this good practice, recognise the existence of stateless people, and remove unwarranted barriers to their employment, we have seen no notable progress. There is no legal basis for excluding stateless people from exercising their economic rights or from employment within the UN system. On the contrary, existing regulations safeguard equal opportunity in employment and protect against discrimination on grounds including nationality and origin. We are therefore redoubling our efforts to make the UN an inclusive employment space for stateless individuals.Today, do not stand alone. 104 organisations from around the world have signed a joint statement endorsing our call to make the UN an inclusive place of employment for one of the world’s largest, yet most overlooked and vulnerable, populations. We are releasing this joint statement today to mark the two-year anniversary of UNHCR confirming this breakthrough.Thank you to all our partners and signatories who have stood behind this call and helped turn it into a collective demand for change. Our collective effort is only beginning.Please share the joint statement, ideally alongside your own thoughts and reflections on why it matters, how statelessness remains overlooked even within the UN system, and why these barriers need to be addressed. Together, we can help drive this change further and help make the lives of stateless people more liveable.Importantly, expanding employment inclusion of stateless people across the UN system would have significance far beyond UN recruitment. It would strengthen recognition that stateless people exist, that the absence of nationality should not mean the absence of opportunity, and that stateless people have the same right to livelihood as anyone else. With that precedent established more widely across the UN system, we can approach other sectors with greater confidence and push for the similar recognition and inclusion.@followers #Statelessness #Stateless #inclusion #InclusionMatters #InclusiveLeadership #humanrights #economicrights #empoymentrights #LabourRights ...

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