UNHCR launches 10-year global campaign to end statelessness
News Stories, 4 November 2014
© UNHCR
One of the striking "I Belong" campaign images created by United Colors of Benetton.
GENEVA, November 4 (UNHCR)
– The UN
refugee agency, with endorsement from high-profile supporters, on
Tuesday launched a global campaign aimed at ending the devastating legal
limbo of statelessness, which affects millions of people around the
world.
"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," said a UNHCR press
release announcing the "I Belong" campaign.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres, UNHCR Special
Envoy Angelina Jolie and more than 30 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 10 million people worldwide are currently stateless and a
baby is born stateless every 10 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."
Acclaimed actress and director Jolie said being stateless meant
adults and their 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," she said.
Most situations of statelessness are a direct consequence of
discrimination based on ethnicity, religion or gender. Twenty-seven
countries at present deny women the right to pass their nationality on
to their children on an equal basis with 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. 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.
Despite such progress, new risks of statelessness have emerged with
the growing number of major conflicts. 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 with the governments and partners in the countries
receiving refugees on prioritizing birth registration for these
children. The fact that many lack documents or that in some situations
fathers have gone missing because of the conflict means that many of
these children may face difficulties in proving 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 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 microsite, aiming to collect 10 million
signatures in support of ending statelessness within a decade.
The refugee agency also released on Tuesday a "Special Report on
Statelessness," which highlights the human impact of the phenomenon, and
a 10-point Global Action Plan to End Statelessness. This 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 4 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 Côte 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 acquire a nationality. In Kyrgyzstan, more
than 65,000 former Soviet citizens have acquired or confirmed their
Kyrgyz citizenship since 2009.
This year 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," Tuesday's press release
said. There are currently 83 state parties to the 1954 Convention and 61
to the 1961 Convention.
http://ibelong.unhcr.org
Breaks my heart to read about there Plight.
Just in time for the 2014 Asean summit in Myanmar!
If Thailand doesn't step up now with some tough words/actions against
Burma's racist policies I think they're in for a big human tsunami...
Thought the Rotary Club of Patong Beach, we have
distributed Baht 19,000 for various refugee groups over the past month.
I am headed to Kuraburi today and I shall check on the situation and
advise through Phuketwan if funds are needed and what goods are needed.
