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#IBelong Campaign The Campaign to End Statelessness Mobilising government and civil society

#IBelong Campaign

 The Campaign to End Statelessness

Mobilising government and civil society

In a world comprised of States, the problem of statelessness remains a glaring anomaly with devastating impacts on the lives of at least 10 million around the world who live without any nationality.  

In October 2013, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees called for the “total commitment of the international community to end statelessness”.  The Global Action Plan to end Statelessness; 2014-2024 (Global Action Plan) developed in Consultation with States, civil society and international organisations, set out a guiding framework made up of 10 Actions that need to be taken to end statelessness within 10 years.  The Global Action Plan includes Actions to:

• resolve existing situations of statelessness;
• prevent new cases of statelessness from emerging; and
• better identify and protect stateless persons.

 Work to address statelessness mobilising governments and civil society has continued in earnest at national, regional and global levels in the frame of #IBelong Campaign.

Two resolutions related to statelessness were adopted during the 32nd regular session of the Human Rights Council (HRC)  held during June and July 2016:

• The HRC Resolution “ The Right to a nationality: women’s equal nationality rights in law and in practice” urges states to eliminate gender discriminatory nationality laws and practices - a major cause of statelessness globallly.
• A second HRC Resolutions “Human Rights and arbitrary deprivation of nationality” calls on states to refrain form enacting or maintaining legislation that would arbitrarily deprive persons of their nationality  on grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, including disability.

On 23 June, a number of UN Agencies and sister agencies including OHCHR, DOCO, WHO, WFP, UN Women and the World Bank participated in a “New Frontier Dialogue on Statelessness” co-chaired by UNHCR and UNICEF in New York.  Participants reaffirmed the role that different agencies have to play in advancing the eradication of statelessness consistent with the 2011 “Guidance Note of the Secretary General: The United Nations and Statelessness.”

On 19-20 June, UNHCR convened the 5th Annual Global NGO Statelessness Retreat.  Twenty-eight NGOs and International Organizations from 20 countries met to discuss and develop new plans to address statelessness.  Topics of discussion included: steps to be taken towards a coalition on realizing children’s right to nationality; how to further strengthen engagement with UN human rights mechanisms; and how to make greater use of the Sustainable Development Goals to resolve statelessness.

At the regional level, on 9 June, participants of 10 NGOs working in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish Central Asia Civil Society Network on Statelessness.  Network members are in the process of developing a webpage for the network.  Central Asia is joining a growing number of civil society networks dedicated to addressing statelessness including those in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe. 

In Kazakhstan on 8 July, UNHCR jointly with local NGO “Sana Sezim” and Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law conducted a Workshop on Statelessness for the authorities of South -Kazakhstan region.  State officials from internal affairs and justice departments, social protection  and prosecutors’ offices attended the workshop to strengthen their knowledge of the international legal framework  governing statelessness, discussed mechanisms  for effective referral system and analysed the ways of cooperation with competent governmental officials to find solutions to the situation of stateless persons in the region.  The participants expressed their willingness to strengthen cooperation with UNHCR and Partners to deal more effectively with the cases of statelessness at their level and as such to contribute to the global aim to end statelessness. 

On 13 May in Turkmenistan, UNHCR organised a one-day introductory training for authorities working in the field of migration and  and citizenship, where information on statelessness determination procedures was provided and Georgian Government and NGO experts shared good practices based on their experience. 

As for Campaign publicity, in April, the UNHCR Regional Office for Central Asia issued the first Regional Newsletter covering efforts to address statelessness in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

On 15-16 September in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, UNHCR in collaboration with the Government is organising a Regional Conference on Statelessness to advocate for accession by the countries in Central Asia to the two Statelessness Conventions. In addition to the States in the region, UNHCR invites Governmental counterparts from the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, to share their experience as both of these countries are parties to the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions. The Governments will be invited to discuss the accession process, possible financial implications after the accession and how these Conventions assist the States in avoiding statelessness situations.