STATELESSNESS DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTS MINORITIES Minorities are disproportionately affected by statelessness, with more than 75% of the world’s stateless individuals belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities (UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, 2018). A joint stocktaking on national laws, policies and practices undertaken by OHCHR and UNHCR in 2021 found that the laws and policies of several countries limit access to nationality through requirements that are either explicitly discriminatory against certain individuals belonging to minorities, or that have discriminatory impact or effect on particular minority groups. For instance, some national laws contain restrictive criteria for granting citizenship such as language requirements, which places minorities at greater risk of statelessness. Individuals belonging to minorities may also face practical obstacles in accessing nationality due to unduly burdensome administrative requirements or onerous costs involved in obtaining civil documentation. The lack of State responsiveness to the needs of stateless individuals or the invisibility and stigmatization of stateless minorities also constitute barriers to the access the right to nationality. As the right to a nationality is often key for the enjoyment of other human rights, statelessness exacerbates obstacles already faced by minorities and vulnerable groups, including women, older persons, migrants, displaced persons and refugees, persons with disabilities, children and youth. Once denied or deprived of citizenship, minorities are inevitably denied protection of their basic rights, including minority rights as established in the 1992 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. Stateless people suffer daily battles to meet their most basic needs, including to access clean drinking water, food or healthcare. Without a nationality or documentation to prove nationality, they remain invisible and on the margins of society, often without access to public services, legal employment, housing, schooling, education or property ownership. In some cases, stateless individuals are also more vulnerable to violence, abuse, exploitation, expulsion, forced removal, mass displacement, arbitrary detention and trafficking. To learn more about OHCHR work on minorities, discrimination, and statelessness 10