Armenia ADVOCACY PAPER UNHCR Observations and Recommendations on Statelessness in the Republic of Armenia Introduction UNHCR is mandated by the UN General Assembly to identify and protect stateless people and to prevent and reduce statelessness. UNHCR fulfills its mandate by working with governments, other UN agencies and civil society to address statelessness globally. It is within this spirit that UNHCR is offering the following observations and recommendations on statelessness in the Republic of Armenia.1 The recommendations presented in this paper are based on the UNHCR Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons and authoritative guidance on the matter.2 This document has been prepared to structure and facilitate advocacy efforts of UNHCR and its partners in addressing statelessness in Armenia in accordance with the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness: 2014-20243 and the Government of the Republic of Armenia pledges at the High-Level Segment on Statelessness held at UNHCR’s Executive Committee 70th session in October 2019.4 The term “stateless person” is defined according to Article 1(1) of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (the 1954 Convention): “stateless person” means a person who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law.5 Number and profile overview of stateless persons According to the last National Population Census of 2011, there were 396 persons without citizenship: 229 were women and 167 were men.6 The Census report contains disaggregated data by age groups (from 20 to 70 years old and above), but further data disaggregation on the location, ethnicity, language and (former) country of habitual residence of this population is not available. According to the Police of the Republic of Armenia (the Police), the number of persons, who are registered as stateless persons in Armenia, has been steadily growing in recent years: in 2015, there were 311 stateless persons; and in 2019 – 961 stateless persons.7 Approximately 80 percent of them are former citizens of Armenia who have renounced their Armenian 1 UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/50/152, 9 February 1996, available at http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/3b00f31d24.html; reiterated in subsequent resolutions, inter alia, A/RES/61/137 of 25 January 2007, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/ 45fa902d2.html, A/RES/62/124 of 24 January 2008, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/47b2fa642.html, and A/RES/63/148 of 27 January 2009, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/ refworld/docid/4989619e2.html; UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Conclusion on Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons, 6 October 2006, No. 106 (LVII) 2006, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/453497302.html. 2 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons, 30 June 2014, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/53b676aa4.html; UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4: Ensuring Every Child's Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 21 December 2012, HCR/GS/12/04, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/50d460c72.html; UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Guidelines on Statelessness No. 5: Loss and Deprivation of Nationality under Articles 59 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, May 2020, HCR/GS/20/05, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5ec5640c4.html; UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Guidance document on measuring stateless populations, May 2011, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4f6887672.html. 3 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Global Action Plan to End Statelessness, 4 November 2014, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/545b47d64.html. 4 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), High-Level Segment on Statelessness: Results and Highlights, May 2020, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5ec3e91b4.html. 5 UN General Assembly, Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, 28 September 1954, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 360, p. 117, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3840.html. 6 Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, the Results of 2011 Population Census of the Republic Of Armenia (Indicators of the Republic of Armenia), 2013, available at: https://www.armstat.am/file/doc/99486303.pdf. 7 UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2019, page 72, available at: https://www.unhcr.org/5ee200e37.pdf.