G - Third party interventions by UN agencies
UNHCR is the UN agency with the mandate to prevent and reduce statelessness, as well as to protect the rights
of stateless people, giving it the authority to intervene in cases raising issues of statelessness.123 This mandate has
continued to evolve as Conclusions of UNHCR’s Executive Committee (ExCom)124 have been endorsed by the UN
General Assembly.125
Over time, UNHCR has developed a recognized expertise on statelessness. Litigants who are interested in having
UNHCR intervene in a case should contact the Senior Protection or Senior Legal Officer in their national office or in their
regional bureau if the case is before a regional court.
Examples of significant third party interventions by UN and other international agencies in cases related to statelessness
include:
By UNHCR at national level in Colombia,126 the Netherlands,127 Norway,128 Hungary,129 Ireland,130 and the UK.131
By UNHCR before the European Court of Human Rights in cases against Croatia,132 Slovenia,133 and Russia.134
By the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in a case before the Indian Supreme Court challenging
the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019.135
By the UN Special Rapporteurs on freedom of expression and on racism and the Council of Europe Commissioner
for Human Rights in the case of Emin Huseynov v. Azerbaijan before the European Court of Human Rights.136
UN General Assembly resolutions 3274 (XXIV) and 31/36 designate UNHCR as the body to examine the cases of persons who claim the benefit of the 1961
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and to assist such persons in presenting their claims to the appropriate national authorities (Article 11). The UN
General Assembly further entrusted UNHCR with a global mandate for the identification, prevention and reduction of statelessness and for the international
protection of stateless persons, through UNGA resolutions A/RES/49/169 of 23 December 1994 and A/RES/50/152 of 21 December 1995. The latter endorses UNHCR’s Executive Committee Conclusion No. 78 (XLVI), Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and the Protection of Stateless Persons, 20 October
1995, http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae68c443f.html.
123
ExCom Conclusion No. 90 (LII), Conclusion on International Protection, 5 October 2001, para. (q), http://www.refworld.org/docid/3bd3e3024.html; ExCom
Conclusion No. 95 (LIV), General Conclusion on International Protection, 10 October 2003, para. (y), http://www.refworld.org/docid/3f93aede7.html; ExCom
Conclusion No. 99 (LV), General Conclusion on International Protection, 8 October 2004, para. (aa), http://www.refworld.org/docid/41750ef74.html; ExCom
Conclusion No. 102 (LVI), General Conclusion on International Protection, 7 October 2005, para. (y), http://www.refworld.org/docid/43575ce3e.html; ExCom
Conclusion No. 106 (LVII), Conclusion on Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons, 6 October 2006, paras
(f), (h), (i), (j) and (t) http://www.refworld.org/docid/453497302.html.
124
125
UNGA resolutions A/RES/49/169 of 23 December 1994 and A/RES/50/152 of 21 December 1995.
Observaciones de la Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados ante la Corte Constitucional de la República de Colombia en respuesta al Oficio OPTB – 1443/19, Expedientes T-7.206.829 y T-7.245.483 AC, Julio 2019, https://www.refworld.org/es/jur/amicus/unhcr/2019/es/129655.
See also, UNHCR, Observaciones de la Oficina del Alto Comisionado de las Naciones Unidas para los Refugiados (ACNUR) a la solicitud de información de la
Honorable Corte Constitucional de Colombia, T-9917118, 26 April 2024, www.refworld.org/jurisprudence/amicus/unhcr/2024/es/147996.
126
Submission by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in case number 202105598/1/A3 before the Council of State, February
2022, https://www.refworld.org/jurisprudence/amicus/unhcr/2022/en/124176.
127
Amicus curiae of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees regarding the interpretation of the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless
Persons before the Borgarting Court of Appeal of Norway, UNHCR, 3 September 2018, https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b9272b74.html.
128
129
Observations of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the Case of X v. Office of Immigration and Nationality (17.K.32.297/2013)
before the Constitutional Court of Hungary, UNHCR 30 November 2014, https://www.refworld.org/docid/547c69434.html.
Amicus curiae of UNHCR in the case of B.D. (Bhutan and Nepal) v. The Minister for Justice and Equality & Ors, High Court of Ireland, Case no. 2010/1188
JR, 25 June 2018, https://www.refworld.org/jurisprudence/amicus/unhcr/2018/en/121834.
130
Submission by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the case of AS (Guinea) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department before the Court
of Appeal (Civil Division), C5/2016/3473/A, 20 February 2018, https://www.refworld.org/jurisprudence/amicus/unhcr/2018/en/122418.
131
Submission by UNHCR https://www.refworld.org/jurisprudence/caselaw/echr/2018/en/120761, 3 July 2015, in the case of Hoti v. Croatia, Application No.
63311/14, Grand Chamber, 26 April 2018, https://www.refworld.org/publisher,UNHCR,AMICUS,SRB,560a2cdb4,0.html.
132
UNHCR intervention before the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Kuric and Others v. Slovenia, Application No. 26828/06, 8 June 2011, https://
www.refworld.org/jurisprudence/amicus/unhcr/2011/en/78977.
133
134
Submission by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the case of Lakatosh and Others v. Russia, UNHCR, March 2011, https://
www.refworld.org/jurisprudence/amicus/unhcr/2011/en/77748.
Application for Intervention, Mukharji and others v. Union of India and others, WP (Civic) No. 1474 0F 2019, Indian Supreme Court, UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights, available at https://www.thehinducentre.com/resources/article30979486.ece/binary/pdf_upload-370845.pdf (a draft, final not available
online); see also “UN High Commissioner for Human Rights files intervention application in Supreme Court against The Citizenship Amendment Act”, Law
Times Journal, 5 March 2020, https://lawtimesjournal.in/un-high-commissioner-for-human-rights-files-intervention-application-in-supreme-court-against-thecitizenship-amendment-act/; Priya Pillay, “Intervention of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the Indian Supreme Court: International Law and
the Citizenship Amendment Act” (blog post), Opinio Juris, 5 March 2020, https://opiniojuris.org/2020/03/05/intervention-of-the-un-high-commissioner-forhuman-rights-at-the-indian-supreme-court-international-law-and-the-citizenship-amendment-act/.
135
Intervention of the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression and on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, 21 September 2018, (application no. 1/16), Emin Huseynov v. Azerbaijan, European Court of Human Rights, https://freedex.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/2015/files/2019/10/Amicus-ECHR-Azerbeijan.pdf; “Commissioner Mijatović
intervenes before the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Emin Huseynov v. Azerbaijan”, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights,
4 October 2018, https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/commissioner-mijatovic-intervenes-before-the-european-court-of-human-rights-in-the-case-of-emin-huseynov-v-azerbaijan.
136
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