Hierarchies of Statelessness in Germany

Abstract

This article argues that the categorisation practice of ‘undetermined nationality’ produces a hierarchy of statelessness that results in the inadequate fulfilment of Germany’s international obligations to protect stateless people. This categorisation practice is maintained through the absence of a statelessness determination procedure, discriminatory legal frameworks and problematic discretionary administrative practices. The article draws on eight semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted in March and April 2024 with people with lived experience of statelessness in Germany. It illustrates how different categories of statelessness affect individuals in their everyday self-realisation, career prospects, wellbeing and political participation. It offers testimonies from different generations of stateless individuals, evidencing how statelessness is not a static legal anomaly, but a dynamic, bureaucratically and legally manufactured spectrum of legal stratification and exclusion. These testimonies also show that if Germany does not implement a statelessness determination procedure it will continue to avoid its responsibilities, failing to comply with international obligations and contributing to human rights violations.