“60^th Anniversary of the 1954 United Nations Convention Relating to Status of Stateless Persons – Status issues of Roma in the Republic of Croatia: achievements and future challenges”. The round table took place in the premises of the Croatian Chamber of Economy for Brodsko-posavska county in Slavonski Brod.

The round table was organised in order to inform state and local authorities, as well as general public, of problems the stateless persons face in their everyday life.

At least 12 million people are stateless worldwide – deprived of citizenship. Over 600.000 persons without citizenship live in Europe, of this 400.000 are in the European Union. Stateless persons are denied nationality and possibility of social participation because they do not have access to civic, economic, cultural and social rights.

The number of stateless persons and persons of undetermined citizenship in Croatia is relatively small in comparison with the rest of the world. According to the 2011 Census, some 2,886 persons stated that they were without or of unknown citizenship. UNHCR in cooperation with Roma NGOs and through legal assistance provided to Roma, estimate that about 500 Roma do not have citizenship of any state. In addition, some 1,000 are without legal status, thus being at risk of statelessness. In any case, the conservative estimate is that 1,500 persons are without legal status in Croatia and the real number is most probably higher.

Representatives of state and local administration, Croatian Parliament, Public Ombudsman, local institutions, Roma national minority and international organisations presented achievements, obstacles and challenges with which Roma minority, authorities and civil society are faced in the regularization of status issues in the Republic of Croatia.

Please find here the recommendations (in Croatian) for best practices which would alleviate obstacles in the process of status regularization for Roma minority.