About

The database

The Statelessness Case Law Database is a free online resource containing national and regional case law covering Europe, as well as international jurisprudence addressing statelessness. The database covers jurisprudence from any jurisdiction in Europe, the European Court of Human Rights, the Court of Justice of the European Union and UN human rights treaty bodies. It is managed by the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) with contributions and support from ENS members and partners.

The database is searchable by country, legal instruments, key aspects and by keywords, and includes case summaries.

The database aims to support ENS members, legal practitioners, policy and decision makers, official institutions, researchers, and the wider civil society to identify relevant case law from other countries or European and international bodies which can assist their work.

Why a case law database on statelessness?

The Statelessness Case Law Database aims to support legal practitioners across Europe that are working to protect stateless people and end statelessness, by providing a platform for comparative legal analysis and knowledge sharing. It is the first database to specifically focus on case law addressing statelessness.

Part of the fight to end statelessness in Europe must happen through the courts. The database is a key pillar of ENS’ strategy to increase the capacity and expertise of lawyers, to help bring about real change to the lives of stateless people and contribute to the development of regional and national law and practice.

Methodology

The database is managed by the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) and relies on contributions from ENS members and pro bono partners, who identify relevant case law and produce the content of each case summary. The summary, written in English, contains an overview of the facts, the arguments made by each party in the proceedings, citations of the most relevant sections of the judgment, and links to other relevant materials and sources of information. Where possible, links to the original judgments and decisions are included in the summary.

While every reasonable effort is made to ensure the content is accurate and up to date, ENS does not assume responsibility for the correctness of the content available and encourages users to refer to the primary sources (please read our Legal and Privacy Information).

If you would like to contribute with a case summary, make a suggestion or propose an amendment to an existing summary, please contact Patrícia Cabral (patricia.cabral@statelessness.eu).