In 2020, there was no improvement on the quality of data on stateless populations. The all-population census that was planned for 2020 and had already been postponed a few times was postponed again due to the COVID-19 outbreak. In June 2020, Ukraine adopted a law introducing a statelessness determination procedure (SDP) which entered into force in July. However, as of February 2021, the SDP by-law was not adopted, and the procedure is not yet effective. It is also likely to take a long-term, extensive outreach campaign to reach people at risk of statelessness in Ukraine. Undocumented people do not receive attention from the authorities. Because they lack documentation, they cannot benefit from the services provided by the state-run free legal system and heavily rely on UNHCR’s legal assistance, which remains limited in scope. Stateless people and people with undetermined nationality usually come from vulnerable and marginalized groups, such as Roma, homeless people, migrants, and people released from penitentiaries. The existing procedures to obtain documents are time-consuming and costly, involving payment of administrative fines for irregular stay in Ukraine or of consular fees when a person has links to several countries, as well as court fees. In 2020, the assistance provided by UNHCR to people with undetermined nationality was complicated by the fact that the Government of Ukraine adopted restrictive measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus, including strict quarantine; Government services were not available for several months and court hearings were also significantly delayed. Compared to other Ukrainian citizens, IDPs and residents of non-government-controlled areas (NGCA) and Crimea face numerous extra requirements and barriers in obtaining or renewing their identification documents. When applying for issuing or renewal of their passport, they must undergo additional verification of their data in available electronic or paper archives.
Since these archives are not available for oblasts currently outside the government’s control, the authorities have difficulty in confirming these individuals’ identities. The verification procedures are lengthy, burdensome and costly. On occasion the verification fails, leaving the person without identification documents. Lack of effective information exchange between State agencies and lack of uniform practice by the SMS are also factors increasing the risk of statelessness for people with residence registration in NGCA. In 2020, UNHCR observed a great reduction of the number of birth certificates issued for children born in NGCA. The primary cause of the reduction is the freedom of movement limitations related to the COVID-19 measures adopted by the Government to prevent the spread of the virus. In comparison to 2019, the number of issued birth certificates decreased by 53%. UNHCR assesses that in NGCA there are over 65,000 children born after 2015 who do not possess a Ukrainian birth certificate (which is 65% of all children born over this period). UNHCR’s advocacy efforts in ensuring introduction of the administrative procedure for birth registration did not succeed as the change of the Government and restructuring of the Ministry of Reintegration in February 2020 resulted in de-prioritization of the issue. The closure of the entry-exit checkpoints between GCA and NGCA resulted in the impossibility to access the judicial procedure while the Ministry of Justice, which is ultimately responsible for registration of births, considers that it would be risky to introduce an administrative procedure for birth registration of babies born in NGCA.