In 2010, UNHCR estimated that at least
35,000 people in Ukraine remained stateless including, for example, Roma,
deported Crimean Tartars, stateless migrants, and former USSR passport holders.
Beyond these headline figures, however, very little is known about stateless
persons in Ukraine.
There is no formal statelessness
determination procedure in Ukraine and the current legal regime in Ukraine bars
the majority of stateless persons from becoming documented. For example, one
legacy of the USSR is the concept of registration at a person’s place of
residence and any appeal to an official, including an application for identity
documents, may only be made by a person who is legally residing in Ukraine. As
a result of this, stateless persons find themselves in a Catch-22 situation –
denied even a starting point from which to resolve their problem.
With the accession of Ukraine to the 1954
Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention
on the Reduction of Statelessness, it was hoped that improvements would be made
to the legislative framework but unfortunately, there has been no progress to
date.
