Assessment of the #IBelong Campaign
Lawyers Without Borders, helped well over 10,000 stateless people gain Kyrgyz
nationality. 10 This effort was undertaken in close partnership with government
counterparts at the local and central levels and demonstrates clearly the success
that can be achieved through the collective efforts of civil society, government
administrations and stateless people themselves.
However, 200,000 plus people in the face of a known 3.9 million, which is itself
not the full picture as outlined above, is cause for concern regarding the potential
to resolve all cases in the next five years. The resolution rate would need to be
amplified exponentially in order for statelessness to end by 2024. This of course
does not take into consideration the many cases yet to be identified beyond the 3.9
million, or new cases created during this period.
Nonetheless, given developments during the first half of the Campaign as well
as the number and nature of pledges for action received at the High-Level Segment
itself, there is arguably a new momentum to address statelessness and to bring the
problem out of the shadows. For example, from 2014–19, seven states changed
laws to prevent statelessness at birth, 11 two states reformed laws so women can
confer their nationality to their children on an equal basis with men, 12 11 states
adopted statelessness determination procedures, 13 nine states introduced measures
to facilitate naturalisation for stateless migrants 14 and 24 new accessions to a
statelessness convention took place. 15 As a point of reference it should be recalled
that it takes time to get a campaign off the ground. Moreover, an analysis of the
right action to take, as well as the actual implementation of changes to laws,
requires time. Against this backdrop, the developments during the first five years
are not only important, they illustrate a new awareness of and determination to act
to resolve the problem of statelessness.
Moreover, states are no longer left largely on their own in determining how to
find and resolve problems of statelessness. At the regional level, for example,
critical strides have been made in furthering platforms that will support states
10
11
12
13
14
15
‘Nansen Refugee Award’, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Web Page)
<https://www.unhcr.org/nansen-refugee-award.html>.
Armenia, Cuba, Estonia, Iceland, Luxembourg, Tajikistan and Paraguay.
Madagascar and Sierra Leone.
Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Kosovo, Montenegro, Panama, Paraguay,
Uruguay and Turkey.
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Estonia, Iceland, Luxembourg, Paraguay and Uruguay.
1954 Convention (n 6):
Angola (7 October 2019), Chile (11 April 2018), Colombia (7 October 2019), El
Salvador (9 February 2015), Guinea-Bissau (19 September 2016), Haiti (27 September
2018), Mali (27 May 2016), Niger (7 November 2014), Peru (23 January 2014), Sierra
Leone (9 May 2016) and Turkey (26 March 2015).
1961 Convention (n 6):
Angola (7 October 2019), Argentina (13 November 2014), Belize (14 August 2015),
Burkina Faso (3 August 2017), Chile (11 April 2018), Guinea-Bissau (19 September
2016), Haiti (27 September 2018), Italy (1 December 2015), Luxembourg (21
September 2017), Mali (27 May 2016), Peru (18 December 2014), Sierra Leone (9
May 2016) and Spain (25 September 2018).
See ‘Refugees and Stateless Persons: Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons’
United
Nations
Treaty
Collection
(Web
Page,
15
November
2019)
<https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetailsII.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=V3&chapter=5&Temp=mtdsg2&clang=_en>; ‘Refugees and Stateless Persons: Convention on
the Reduction of Statelessness’ United Nations Treaty Collection (Web Page, 15 November
2019)
<https://treaties.un.org/pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=V4&chapter=5>.
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