Nearly 3,000 people in Italy are stateless or at risk:UNHCR
Rome: The United Nations Refugees Agency (UNHCR) on 27 February launched a new report titled “Mapping statelessness in Italy” about people who are stateless and those who are at risk of becoming stateless in Italy.
A new UNHCR report, Mapping Statelessness in Italy, released on February 27, highlights the challenges stateless people face in the country and outlines key areas for legal and procedural reform.
The report estimates that at least 3,000 people in Italy are stateless or at risk of becoming so. Among the most affected groups are Roma communities from the former Yugoslavia, as well as individuals from the former Soviet Union, Cuba, Tibet (China), and Palestine.
Italy has been a leader in statelessness protection since the 1950s, when it ratified the 1954 Geneva Convention on stateless persons. In 1993, it introduced an administrative process to determine statelessness, and in 2015, it formally committed to reducing and preventing statelessness by joining the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Most recently, in 2023, Italy strengthened its efforts by signing a technical cooperation agreement with UNHCR and reaffirming its commitment at the Global Refugee Forum.
Despite this progress, the UNHCR report warns that gaps remain in ensuring full protection for stateless individuals. It calls for practical reforms to improve compliance with international standards and address individual cases.
The report suggests several measures to strengthen Italy’s approach to statelessness, including:
Improving data collection on stateless populations to align with international recommendations.
Establishing a more comprehensive legal framework to assess and recognize statelessness, ensuring individuals can fully exercise their rights.
Training public officials and service providers to prevent discrimination and ensure better access to rights.
Implementing stronger safeguards to prevent statelessness, including guaranteeing Italian citizenship at birth to children who would otherwise be stateless.
UNHCR’s approach to reducing and preventing statelessness
“Stateless people are among the most vulnerable in the world,” said Chiara Cardoletti, UNHCR’s Representative for Italy. “They lack fundamental rights and often remain invisible to authorities. This study highlights areas that need attention. While Italy has made significant progress, continued efforts are crucial to ensure all stateless individuals can exercise their rights.”
As part of the continuing commitment of Italy to reduce and prevent statelessness, UNHCR continues to follow a two-pronged approach: on the one side cooperating closely with authorities to improve the national response, for example through a Protocol of technical cooperation aimed at strengthening the procedure to determine statelessness, and on the other hand offering its direct support to stateless persons, in cooperation with civil society organizations, legal clinics, and other actors, to respond to their needs and offer them a direction on the path to having their status recognized as well as their access to exercising their rights.
