IBelong Campaign Milestones
Adoption of the Brazil Declaration and Plan of
Action
Launch of the #IBelong Campaign and the
Global Action Plan to End Statelessness
The #IBelong Campaign aims to end statelessness
through legal advocacy and collaboration with
governments and partners around the globe. The
Global Action Plan to End Statelessness sets out a
guiding framework comprising 10 key actions.
2014
Representatives from 28 countries and three
territories in Latin America and the Caribbean
adopted a road map to address new displacement
trends and end statelessness.
Abidjan Declaration on Eradication of
Statelessness
Formation of the Friends of the #IBelong
Campaign to End Statelessness
The Declaration contains 25 commitments to
eradicate statelessness made by the States
belonging to the Economic Community of
West African States. In 2017, the accompanying
Banjul Declaration was adopted to support the
implementation of these commitments.
In advance of the one-year anniversary of
the campaign, a Friends Group was formed,
composed of Geneva-based diplomatic missions
of States, dedicated to raising visibility of key
issues and opportunities, as well as fostering joint
action and high-level advocacy.
Release of the “I Am Here, I Belong:
The Urgent Need to End Childhood
Statelessness” Report
2015
UNHCR spoke to over 250 youth, parents,
government officials and civil society organization
staff in seven countries about the experiences
and challenges of childhood statelessness. It was
the first time that many of these young people had
talked about what it was like to be stateless.
Establishment of the Coalition on Every Child’s
Right to a Nationality
2016
Brazzaville Declaration and Plan of Action
Member States of the International Conference
on the Great Lakes Region affirmed the right
to nationality as a fundamental human right,
expressed joint support for UNHCR’s #IBelong
Campaign, and committed to preventing and
eradicating statelessness by reforming laws and
policies related to statelessness.
Jointly led by UNHCR and UNICEF, this
Coalition was created to strengthen international
cooperation by raising awareness of childhood
statelessness and addressing key issues such as
gender discrimination and birth registration.
Publication of “This is Our Home: Stateless
Minorities and Their Search for Citizenship”
2017
This report presented key findings from UNHCR’s
consultations in 2017 with more than 120 individuals
who belong to stateless, formerly stateless and atrisk minority groups in three countries, relating to
both the causes and impacts of statelessness.
The United Nations Secretary-General’s
Guidance Note on Statelessness
N’Djamena Initiative on the Eradication of
Statelessness in Central Africa
This Note provides guidance to the United
Nations system on addressing statelessness by
outlining seven guiding principles that support the
development, promotion and implementation of
international norms relating to statelessness.
Eight countries from the Economic and Monetary
Community of Central Africa affirmed that the
right to nationality contributes to regional peace
and security, as well as social and economic
development, committing to a range of actions to
resolve existing situations of statelessness and
prevent future cases.
6
#IBELONG
2018