On 7 July, UNHCR organized the event “Ending
Statelessness: The Road Ahead” on the margins
of UNHCR’s 81st Standing Committee. Interventions
were made by representatives from the United
States Bureau of Population, Refugees and
Migration, UNICEF and UNHCR and the NGO United
Stateless. The event was an opportunity to share
progress and facilitate interaction with States and
civil society towards a strong final push in the last
years of the #IBelong Campaign. Important initiatives
to improve data on statelessness were shared, as
well as findings from the newly published report
Background Note on Sex Discrimination in Birth
Registration.
BACKGROUND NOTE ON
Sex Discrimination
in Birth Registration
In August, the Institute on Statelessness and
Inclusion published the briefing paper “Failure
to Protect: The Denial of Status, Detention and
Refoulement of Rohingya Refugees in India” which
was developed as a resource for those advocating
for stronger protection of Rohingya in India. It
provides an overview of the situation since 2017 and
describes the impact of the deteriorating protection
context on the Rohingya community.
Made possible thanks to the support of
COALITION ON EVERY CHILD’S
RIGHT TO A NATIONALITY
In July and September, the European Network
on Statelessness (ENS) organized several events,
including the webinar “Deprivation of nationality
and the prevention of statelessness” to launch a
new Statelessness Index briefing on this topic; the
webinar “Is Europe falling behind on statelessness
determination and protection?” to launch the
publication of its Statelessness Index briefing on
statelessness determination and protection in
Europe; and an online debate on “Using litigation to
end statelessness” to mark the launch of their new
Statelessness Case Law Database.
Protection, Ms. Gillian Triggs, reminded delegates
that a spirit of partnership can make statelessness
a fact of the past. Christiana Bukalo, a statelessness
activist and founder of Statefree, called for stateless
persons to be given the chance to influence the
political space that decides on their situation.
On 10 September, UNHCR and the Government of
Turkmenistan, with the support of the UN Resident
Coordinator in Turkmenistan, organized a subregional International Conference on Statelessness
Eradication in Central Asia. Attended by over 50
participants, the conference was an opportunity
for all five Central Asian States to take stock of
achievements, exchange good practices and
develop comprehensive strategies to address
remaining gaps, including accession to the UN
Statelessness Conventions.
On 23 and 24 September, UNHCR and the Council
of Europe’s European Committee on Legal Cooperation (CDCJ) convened the “International
Conference on Statelessness and the Right to
a Nationality in Europe”. Comprising a technical
meeting of experts followed by an international
conference, the event sought to open a discussion
on how Council of Europe Member States can
achieve the goals of the #IBelong Campaign by
2024. UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for
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