Geneva, 04.11.2014
UNHCR is today launching a global "I Belong" campaign aimed at ending within 10 years the problem of statelessness - a devastating legal limbo for the millions of people worldwide who lack any nationality and the human rights protections that go with it. The goal of eradicating statelessness is looking increasingly possible thanks to dramatic recent progress in the number of States acceding to two key UN human rights treaties.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie and more than 20 celebrities and world opinion-leaders today published an Open Letter, saying that 60 years after the United Nations first agreed to protect stateless people, "now it's time to end statelessness itself."
At least ten million people worldwide are currently stateless and a baby is born stateless every ten minutes. Not allowed a nationality, they are often denied the rights and services that countries normally offer their citizens.
"Statelessness can mean a life without education, without medical care or legal employment... a life without the ability to move freely, without prospects or hope," the Open Letter said. "Statelessness is inhuman. We believe it is time to end this injustice."
UNHCR's Special Envoy Angelina Jolie was among the first to sign the Open Letter. "Being stateless means you and your children having no legal identity, no passport, no vote, and few or no opportunities to get an education. Ending statelessness would right these terrible wrongs. But it would also strengthen society in countries where stateless people are found, by making it possible to draw on their energy and talents. It is both an obligation and an opportunity for governments everywhere to put an end to this exclusion."
Most situations of statelessness are a direct consequence of discrimination based on ethnicity, religion or gender. Moreover, 27 countries at present deny women the right to pass their nationality onto their children on an equal basis as men, a situation that can create chains of statelessness that span generations. There is also a very real link between statelessness, displacement and regional stability.
UNHCR's campaign is being launched amid signs of a shift in international attitudes surrounding statelessness. Just three years ago, there were barely 100 States parties to the two statelessness treaties - the 1954 UN Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Today the number of accessions stands at 144, bringing critical mass within reach.
Nonetheless, despite such progress, new risks of statelessness have emerged with the growing number of major conflicts. The wars in Central African Republic and Syria for example have forced millions of people into internal displacement or into becoming refugees.
Tens
of thousands of refugee children have been born in exile and UNHCR is
working closely with the governments and partners in the countries
receiving refugees on prioritizing birth registration for these
children. This, and the fact that many lack documents or the fact
that in some situations fathers have gone missing because of the
conflict means that many of these children may face difficulties in
proving that they are citizens.
UNHCR
has partnered with the United Colors of Benetton to create the ‘I
Belong' campaign, which aims to draw global attention to the
devastating life-long consequences of statelessness. Benetton, in its
spirit of supporting social campaigns has developed the creative
content of the campaign and the campaign website to host it.
Following the campaign launch, the Open Letter will become an online
petition on this new microsite, aiming to collect ten million
signatures in support of ending statelessness within ten
years.
UNHCR
also released today a Special Report on Statelessness which
highlights the human impact of the phenomenon, and a ten-point Global
Action Plan to End Statelessness which aims both to resolve major
existing crises and to ensure no child is born stateless in the
future.
"Statelessness
makes people feel like their very existence is a crime," said
Guterres. "We have a historic opportunity to end the scourge of
statelessness within 10 years, and give back hope to millions of
people. We cannot afford to fail this challenge."
While
issues of statelessness remain politically contentious in some
countries, in others ending it can be as simple as changing a few
words in a country's citizenship law. Over the past decade,
legislative and policy changes have allowed more than four million
stateless people to acquire a nationality or have their nationality
confirmed. For example, a 2008 High Court ruling in Bangladesh
allowed 300,000 stateless Urdu-speakers to become citizens, ending
generations of despair. In Cote d'Ivoire, where statelessness was a
root cause of a decade of armed conflict, legal reforms in 2013 allow
long-term residents in the country to finally acquire a nationality.
In Kyrgyzstan, more than 65,000 former USSR citizens have acquired or
confirmed their Kyrgyz citizenship since 2009.
2014
marks the 60th anniversary of the 1954 UN Convention relating to the
Status of Stateless Persons, which, alongside the 1961 Convention on
the Reduction of Statelessness, provides the international legal
basis for ending statelessness. With enough political will, UNHCR
believes statelessness can be resolved. And unlike so many other
problems facing governments today, statelessness can be solved in our
lifetime.
Additional Information:
Supporting multimedia materials (all are subject to the same embargo of not for use before 0500 GMT on 4 November 2014) including video stories and a report are available at http://unhcr.org/stateless2014/ [link must be copied and pasted into a browser to work].
As of 4 November 2014 there are 83 accessions to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, and 61 to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Signatories to the Open Letter include (in addition to High Commissioner Guterres and UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie):
o
Mr. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, High Commissioner for Human Rights
o
Mr. Anthony Lake, Executive Director, UNICEF
o
Ms. Helen Clark, Administrator, UNDP
o
Ms. Louise Arbour, former High Commissioner for Human Rights, former
Chief Prosecutor of two United Nations international criminal
tribunals
o
Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, former UN and Arab League Special Envoy to
Syria
o
Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, former Secretary-General of ASEAN
o
Mr. Juan Mendez, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
o
Mr. Adama Dieng, Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the
Prevention of Genocide
o
Ms. Carla Del Ponte, former Chief Prosecutor of two United Nations
international criminal tribunals
o
Mr. Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human
Rights
o
Ms. Astrid Thors, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities
o
His Excellency Mr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, former President of
Brazil
o
Ms. Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate (2003)
o
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu
o
Ms. Hina Jilani, former Special Representative of the
Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders
o
Mr. Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch
o
Ms. Barbara Hendricks, UNHCR Honorary Lifetime Goodwill Ambassador
o
Mr. Khaled Hosseini, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador
o
Mr. Jesús Vázquez, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador< /span>
o Ms.
Muazzez Ersoy, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador
o Ms. Alek Wek, UNHCR
Goodwill Ambassador
o Mr. Aidos Sagat, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador
o
Mr. Osvaldo Laport, UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador
o Mr. Ahmed
Kathrada, South African human rights activist
o Mr. Hugh
Masekela, South African musician/composer
o Mr. George Bizos, SC,
South African human rights lawyer and campaigner against apart heid
More details of UNHCR's campaign to end statelessness can be found at: ibelong.unhcr.org [link will be live from 3 November 2014, and must be copied and pasted into a browser to work]
Media contacts: Full contact details for UNHCR's Geneva headquarters media team and our global network of spokespersons can be found on our global website www.unhcr.org and at http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e6e9c42e.html