Statelessness in the European Union : Displaced, Undocumented, Unwanted

This book examines the way in which stateless people and irregular migrants manage their lives inside the European Union. Case studies from an empirically-based project illustrate the everyday realities for non-citizens in four European countries: France, the UK, Estonia and Slovenia.

Statelessness in the European Union draws together original research from over one hundred interviews in Estonia, France, Slovenia and the United Kingdom to provide one of the first comparative accounts of the de facto or de jure stateless populations in the European Union. It blends legal, political and empirical research to examine how non-citizens without secure status, in some cases established undocumented migrants and their descendants, manage their lives in four European Union member states. Normative and legal analyses of the practical meaning of basic human rights are combined with a groundbreaking investigation of the obstacles that prevent people from accessing essential services. Contrasting the situation of Europe''s stateless now with that examined by Arendt over fifty years ago, it considers proposals for the future security of Europe''s stateless people.