Childoc: Preventing Statelessness
of Belarusian Children Born in Exile
Every Child Deserves a Legal Identity
Across European Union and the UK, many Belarusian children born to families forced into exile face a hidden danger: statelessness. Without proper documentation, these children risk growing up without a nationality — and without access to fundamental rights such as healthcare, education, and protection.
Childoc exists to make sure this doesn’t happen. We help families navigate complex legal systems, provide tools and guidance, and work with partners to push for stronger safeguards that guarantee every child’s right to nationality and legal identity.
OUR MISSION is to protect the right of every Belarusian child to nationality and legal identity.
About The Project
WE DO THIS BY:
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Identifying risks – researching laws, policies, and birth registration procedures across Europe and the UK to identify where children may be left without nationality and legal identity.
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Highlighting solutions – sharing best practices from countries that successfully protect children from statelessness.
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Supporting families – providing clear, practical guidance so parents can secure documents for their children.
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Building change – connecting lawyers, civil society, and governments to advocate for stronger protections.
Help Us Understand Your Experience
To support Belarusian families more effectively, we want to hear from you. If you are a parent navigating the process of documenting your child abroad, please take a few minutes to complete our short questionnaire.
Your insights will help us improve our guidance, advocacy, and tools.
Improve policies
Work with governments and institutions to remove legal and bureaucratic barriers
Empower families
Offer clear, accessible information to help parents secure documents for their children
Our Goals
Strengthen cooperation
Build a community of lawyers, civil society groups, and policymakers working together across borders
Raise awareness
Ensure European governments and international organisations about statelessness and the documentation challenges Belarusian forced migrants face
We support parents and build long-term solutions through:
Legal Information
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Easy-to-use guides and resources explaining documentation procedures country by country.
Our Services
Consultations
& Legal Support
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Comprehensive assistance for families, including legal guidance, personalised strategies, and connections to local partners and lawyers to help secure children’s documents.
Advocacy
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Using evidence and lived experience to push for stronger protections against statelessness at national and international levels.
We have already conducted research in 19 countries
LegalHub - a unique, secure, and anonymous legal assistance platform that provides critical support to individuals, communities, civil society organisations, and activists resisting repression, legal insecurity, and human rights violations in Belarus. Established as an independent initiative, LegalHub has become an essential resource for those facing systematic state oppression and lack of legal protection due to government crackdowns on independent attorneys and civil society
Human Constanta - a Belarusian human rights organisation focused on promoting public interests and collaborative actions in response to contemporary challenges in the field of human rights. The organisation works in the areas of human rights in the context of anti-extremism policies, digital rights, migrants’ rights, and anti-discrimination, as well as preventing and addressing the risks of statelessness.
Project Partners
Apatride Network - a leading stateless-led organisation in the European Union that works to address statelessness, focusing on awareness-raising, advocacy, legal assistance, stakeholder bridge building, and impact initiatives that target barriers that prevent stateless people from accessing human rights. The organisation sits on the UNHCR Advisory Board of organisations led by the forcibly displaced and stateless, and its members also serve as advisors, leads, and trustees in numerous other international organisations and NGOs.
PILnet - a global non-governmental organisation that serves as a global network for public interest law. With programmes in Europe & Eurasia, Asia, and at the global level, PILnet partners with legal professionals and civil society organisations to protect civic space, address global challenges, and work to build just, equitable and sustainable societies.