Statelessness in the region of former Yugoslavia: unfinished nationality rights, legal identity and Roma exclusion

July 9, 2026

The dissolution of Yugoslavia between 1990 and 2008 created widespread statelessness issues across its seven successor states, affecting people who relocated within the former federation and now face citizenship complications in newly independent countries. While North Macedonia recently resolved all known Yugoslavia-related statelessness cases, affecting nearly 20,000 people since 2001, persistent problems remain, particularly involving unregistered births and missing documentation that disproportionately impact Roma, Ashkali, and Balkan Egyptian communities. The European Network on Statelessness tracks these issues through its Statelessness Index, revealing that even EU member states like Slovenia and Croatia struggle with systematic barriers to legal identity.

Who is affected

Former Yugoslav citizens who relocated between republics before independence and their descendants
Stateless persons across seven successor states (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Kosovo)
Roma, Ashkali, and Balkan Egyptian communities facing disproportionate documentation barriers
The 25,671 "erased ones" in Slovenia removed from permanent resident registers after independence
317 people in North Macedonia who lived in legal limbo until July 2025
147 children in North Macedonia lacking citizenship due to missing birth registrations
Young people like Valentin Rakip who spent years without legal identity
Roma persons in Bosnia and Herzegovina (reduced from 3,000 to 57 without documents by 2017)
420 identified people at risk of statelessness in Montenegro (as of November 2024), over 55 percent being children
558 stateless people and 173 people with "unknown citizenship" in Croatia (2021 census)

What action is being taken

The European Network on Statelessness is assessing European countries' laws, policies, and practices through the Statelessness Index
UNHCR is conducting awareness-raising campaigns comparing statelessness to invisibility
The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and Macedonian Young Lawyers Association (MYLA) are pursuing collective lawsuits concerning unregistered persons
Montenegro is implementing a statelessness determination procedure introduced in 2018, with 11 people recognized as stateless and 19 applications pending as of October 2024

Why it matters

Statelessness creates fundamental barriers to human rights and dignities, preventing affected individuals from accessing education, healthcare, legal employment, banking services, property inheritance, and travel. The issue demonstrates that legal identity is not merely administrative but essential for participation in society, and that institutional barriers disproportionately harm already marginalized communities like the Roma. Birth registration failures can condemn entire generations to "invisibility" within legal systems, perpetuating cycles of exclusion and discrimination. The situation across former Yugoslav states reveals that EU membership alone cannot solve statelessness, requiring instead sustained political will and active institutional efforts to remove barriers for undocumented and marginalized populations.

What's next

Implementation of North Macedonia's 2023 amendments requiring immediate registration of every child born in its territory
Addressing remaining implementation issues and barriers to birth registration affecting Romani communities in North Macedonia
Resolving the cases of 147 people, mostly children, who still lack citizenship in North Macedonia due to missing birth registrations
Ensuring functional recognition of documents for Roma persons placed in North Macedonia's "Special Birth Registry" following the legally binding court ruling
Continued efforts across the region to ensure universal birth registration, functional identity documents, accessible residence registration, free or affordable procedures, legal aid, and outreach to distrustful communities

Read full article from source: Global Voices