DESCRIPTION OF STATELESSNESS STRATEGY Statelessness is a priority issue of concern to the Department of State (DOS) Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) because of its lead authority within the United States Government (USG) to support the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).2 Working to address statelessness supports PRM’s Functional Bureau Strategy Goals including to (1) save lives, ease suffering, and promote human dignity, through efficient and effective humanitarian assistance, (2) promote and provide durable and interim solutions for populations of concern through U.S. assistance and collaboration with the international community and (3) advocate for the protection of vulnerable populations and exert leadership with the international community. In 2014, UNHCR launched the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness: 2014-2024 (GAP) and the #IBelong Campaign to End (#IBelong Campaign). The purpose of the #IBelong Campaign is to galvanize international support around the goal of ending statelessness in 10 years. The GAP consists of 10 Actions for country governments to achieve the ambitious goals of eradicating statelessness by 2024 (see Table 1). To support the #IBelong Campaign, the diplomatic community created the Group of Friends of the #IBelong Campaign (Group of Friends). UNHCR also hosted a HighLevel Segment on Statelessness (HLS) as part of its 2019 Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme (ExCom) to obtain pledges in line with the 10 GAP Actions to be implemented in the second half of the campaign, as well as track and report on progress. Table 1: The Global Action Plan (GAP) Action 1: Resolving existing major situations of statelessness Action 2: Ensuring that no child is born stateless Action 3: Removing gender discrimination from nationality laws Action 4: Preventing denial, loss, or deprivation of nationality on discriminatory grounds Action 5: Preventing statelessness in cases of state succession Action 6: Grant protection status to stateless migrants and facilitate their naturalization Action 7: Ensuring birth registration for the prevention of statelessness Action 8: Issuing nationality documentation to those entitled to it Action 9: Acceding to the UN Statelessness Conventions Action 10: Improving quantitative and qualitative data on stateless populations Against this background, PRM’s statelessness strategy seeks to support UNHCR in the fulfilment of its mandate, support the achievement of the goals of the GAP and, through diplomacy and funding, work towards eradicating statelessness. PRM’s strategy3 focuses on: • • • • • Contributing funding to UNHCR in support of UNHCR’s statelessness activities at a level commensurate with the United States’ overall level of support to UNHCR operations at the global, regional, and country levels. Being a partner to UNHCR to ensure the timely implementation of the #IBelong Campaign and GAP. Ensuring that mainstreaming of statelessness activities takes place across the United Nations (UN) system. Serving as a leader through multilateral diplomacy to raise awareness about statelessness and pushing for action through bilateral diplomacy, funding, and commissioned research. Eliminating gender discrimination from nationality laws, including through funding GCENR and through diplomatic engagements. EVALUATION PURPOSE AND SCOPE As the #IBelong Campaign and GAP approach the end of their 10-year plan, this evaluation seeks to inform PRM’s future statelessness strategy. PRM contracted Resonance, through the DOS Performance 2 Through a series of resolutions, the UN General Assembly gave UNHCR the formal mandate to identify stateless people, prevent and reduce statelessness around the world, and protect the rights of stateless people. GA Res. 3274 (1974), 31/36 (1976) and GA Res. 50/152 (1995). 3 The Evaluation of PRM-Supported Initiatives to Prevent and Reduce Statelessness’ Desk Review/Inception Report lays out PRM’s working statelessness strategy in detail. 1