Statelessness
Statelessness is a serious but often overlooked human rights issue. It refers to the situation of people who are not recognized as citizens by any country.
An overlooked human rights issue
Without nationality, individuals often struggle to access basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment, legal protection, and political participation.
While many of us rarely think about our citizenship, for stateless persons, it shapes nearly every aspect of daily life.
Statelessness is often overlooked in asylum and migration debates. It is a hidden but very real issue affecting thousands of refugees and migrants in Europe.
While European countries are increasingly encountering stateless people in their asylum systems, their legal frameworks, policies, and capacity to identify, record and determine statelessness are lacking.
This event
This lecture places statelessness within broader discussions on migration, human rights, and the role of the state. It will explore how statelessness arises, why it persists, and what its consequences are, particularly in Europe and Belgium.
The panel will reflect on key questions related to nationality, citizenship, and belonging, while identifying gaps in protection and discussing possible pathways toward fairer recognition procedures and durable solutions.
By bringing historical, legal, and practical perspectives together, the session aims to foster greater understanding of statelessness and encourage informed dialogue on how to better protect those affected.
The programme
19:00 | Introduction by Erik De Bom, director of UCSIA
19:10 | Keynote by Christiana Bukalo
Christiana will set the intellectual and human context of statelessness — exploring its historical, philosophical and contemporary dimensions.
Christiana Bukalo is a social change maker and founder of Statefree e.V. As a stateless individual, she has decided to build Statefree to create visibility, community and belonging for and together with stateless people.
20:00 | Panel discussion
A moderated panel debate bringing together expert voices from civil society and institutional practice to discuss the legal, political and human dimensions of statelessness in Europe and Belgium.
The panelists:
Clara Van Thillo (KU Leuven) is a PhD researcher and teaching assistant in international law at the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies. Since 2022, she has held an FWO fellowship. She has been a visiting researcher at the Geneva Graduate Institute, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Melbourne’s Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness. Her research focuses on UNHCR’s mandate and practice regarding statelessness, with broader interests in refugee and human rights law.
Gert Bruininkx is the director of NANSEN vzw/asbl, a legal expertise centre on international protection providing legal support and expertise on statelessness and refugee law and promoting an interdisciplinary approach; bridging the gap between academia and law professionals, to foster a better understanding of and better access to international protection.
Lies Vandervoort works at CGRA/CGVS (General Commission for Refugees and Stateless Persons) and is a longtime expert on statelessness.
Moderator: Adam Rachid
21:00 | End of the programme
European Leadership Programme
This event is organized by Adam Rachid, who is working at UCSIA and USOS this academic year as an ELP fellow. JESC’s European Leadership Programme (ELP) is an intensive programme that trains young professionals to become responsible and influential leaders.
