S P E C I A L R E P O RT / S O L U T I O N S “...a form of punishment more primitive than torture” A 1 0 -Y E A R C A M PA I G N T O E N D S TAT E L E S S N E S S Seeking After having worked tirelessly to become a Thai citizen, Srinuan finally acquired nationality. She has since set up an organization to help other stateless people be recognized as Thai citizens. Solutions T T H E P R O B L E M O F M A R G I N A L I Z AT I O N H A S P E R S I S T E D F O R C E N T U R I E S . – SHEIK AL - NUMANI FROM IRAQ S TAT E L E S S AC H I E V E R S ANNA PAVLOVA (1881-1931) Prima ballerina Became stateless in 1921 20 STAT E L E S S N E S S Resolving statelessness is possible: Since 2003, over four million stateless persons around the world have acquired a nationality. © J. QUINNELL / AUGUST 2 009 “After years of living in limbo, finally, I have the feeling that I belong to a country… My country, my people and I regained the nationality and we feel again part of this great nation.” The world’s 10 million stateless live a marginalized, invisible existence. Their lives have been disrupted or destroyed with incalculable social, economic or political consequences. The nightmare continues today—the woman who weeps that “it is better not to exist than to be without identity papers”; the youngster in the Dominican Republic denied an escape from poverty and an attractive career as a baseball player; and the woman in Madagascar who refuses to start a family until she gets citizenship. But there are also individual and national beacons of hope: the Thai woman who, having gained her own nationality is helping other stateless people acquire their own; the Ivorian man now actively involved in local politics; the recognition by the Bangladesh High Court of the citizenship of the Urdu-speaking minority; and the granting of nationality to over 60,000 people in Kyrgyzstan. UNHCR’s 10-year Campaign to End Statelessness will harness a unique window of opportunity to garner public, national and international support to finally eradicate the scourge of statelessness within a decade. Statelessness created during a single moment in history can go on to affect people for generations and unless action is taken, these disenfranchised populations will continue to grow. Statelessness, however, can be resolved in a single moment, too. The key factor to a solution is political will; then relatively simple and low-cost reforms that can have an immediate, permanent impact. During the past five years, UNHCR has quintupled its budget for resolving statelessness and a special mechanism created by High Commissioner Guterres will provide increased funds for particularly promising and important projects. The Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme has approved a budget of US$68 million for 2015. In addition to the agency’s own global staff network of aid workers who care for and protect the world’s displaced and stateless people, over 20 additional specialists have been deployed around the world to work with governments and other relevant organizations to address statelessness. The Campaign to End Statelessness aims to fully resolve existing situations of statelessness and prevent new cases of statelessness during the next 10 years. Persuading and supporting states to undertake several key actions could sever the vicious cycle of statelessness that affects millions of people globally. The actions include:  Ensuring that every birth is registered, thereby helping to establish legal proof of parentage and place of birth—key elements of proof necessary to establish a nationality.  Ensuring that all children are granted nationality if they would otherwise be stateless for example, if their own parents are already stateless.  Removing gender discrimination from nationality laws so that women can pass on their nationality to their children on an equal basis as men. Where fathers are stateless or unable or unwilling to take steps to STAT E L E S S N E S S 21