Montenegro is a state party to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
A stateless person is someone who does not have a nationality of any state. Without a nationality, stateless persons are often denied fundamental rights - education, social protection, health care, or legal employment.
UNHCR is the UN agency mandated to work on statelessness, including identifying and protecting stateless persons and preventing and reducing statelessness.
Only States can provide nationality to stateless persons.
UNHCR advocates for the protection of stateless people and solutions to their situation.
UNHCR has established partnerships with other organizations to advise stateless people on citizenship matters, including relevant legal advice and representation. UNHCR works with NGOs, human rights groups and other UN partners to advocate for access to education, health care, employment and other basic rights for stateless persons. We also work with partners to protect stateless people from detention, trafficking and violence. Please visit this page for more information: https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/are-you-stateless/.
UNHCR, through its legal partner Civic Alliance, provides stateless and persons at risk of statelessness with free legal aid in the process of birth registration, civic documentation, confirmation/acquisition of nationality and statelessness determination procedure.
If you need information on statelessness or legal advice, please contact UNHCR or our partner Civic Alliance.
For more information on legal aid, please see: (link to pdf documents in Montenegrin and Albanian languages).