CDA Executive Director Oleg Palii participated in Madrid, Spain on 6-7 June in the European Network on Statelessness (ENS) Conference on “Addressing Statelessness in Europe”.
At the event was discussed how the international organization’s members and partners are stepping up their efforts to identify new approaches and solutions to the problem of statelessness in Europe.
On 6 June was discussed the situation of statelessness in the Republic of Moldova, and the procedure for determining statelessness status in our country was presented as a positive example. At the same time, the risks of statelessness at birth were mentioned.
The citizenship law in our country stipulated that children born in the Republic of Moldova whose parents did not have the right of residence risked becoming stateless from birth, which was in contravention of our country’s obligations undertaken through the ratification of several international acts, including the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
On the second day of the event, the National Security Committee of the Moldovan Parliament gave the last positive opinion needed to amend the Citizenship Law to exclude this provision, and on 8 June the amendments were voted in the plenary of the Parliament. Thus, children born on the territory of the Republic of Moldova to foreign parents will obtain the citizenship of our country.
The ENS annual meeting in Madrid was attended by over 200 participants from 34 countries – officials from the host country – Spain, as well as from all over Europe, representatives of regional institutions, civil society.
CDA is a member of the European Network on Statelessness and contributes to its activities.
At the invitation of the Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova in Spain, Eugen Revenco, the Executive Director of the CDA visited the diplomatic mission of our country in Madrid. Oleg Palii discussed with Eugen Revenco the possibilities of collaboration for refugee assistance.
