National Human Rights
Institutions delivered a
joint statement in which
they
affirmed
their
engagement to assist States
and UNHCR to resolve
statelessness,
including
through
awarenessraising campaigns with the
authorities and the public,
and by promoting access to
justice by stateless persons.
IOM8 pointed to the risk of
statelessness in the context
of forced displacement
and migration, especially
when migrants have no
documents
and
their
migration/displacement is
protracted. IOM stressed
the need to develop a
regional framework for
the protection of migrant
stateless persons and to
establish fair procedures
for the determination of
nationality and issuance of
documents.
UNICEF9 indicated that
less than 50% of children
are registered at birth in
the region, and stressed
that the absence of a birth
certificate is an obstacle
to the determination of
nationality. UNICEF said
that the 3rd Conference
on
Civil
Registration
(Yamoussoukro,
1213 February, 2015) has
declared the Decade of Civil
Registration in Africa, and
adopted a series of measures
to ensure birth registration
including for refugee and
stateless children.
Civil Society10 called on
States to take measures to
end statelessness including
the creation of multisectorial working groups
and developing national
plans of action. It advocated
for a greater involvement
by States in all actions
they undertake. Finally, it
requested UNHCR to
integrate the word
stateless in its title.
IOM was represented at the ministerial segment by the Regional Director for West and Central Africa.
Deputy Representative of UNICEF in Ivory Coast, speech delivered on the behalf of the UNICEF Regional Representative
10
Secretary General of the West Africa Forum of Civil Society Organizations (WACSOF) read a joint statement prepared by several NGOs
platforms.
8
9