Closing statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Closing statement by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Extracts from the closing statement at the 70th session of the Executive Committee By Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 11 October 2019 I am grateful to all of you for your strong engagement on statelessness, and the many concrete pledges that have been made. We will all take away from the debate a much deeper understanding of the causes and consequences of statelessness in people’s lives, and the very practical steps that can help resolve this deeply harmful form of exclusion. The strong commitment of the Deputy Secretary-General, of the many high-level delegations that participated in the debate, and of civil society, was evident. They also included pledges from five States to take action in relation to gender discrimination in their nationality laws. These are enormously significant and will help ensure a future in which no child is born stateless. I wish to strongly encourage the remaining States who still have some form of gender discrimination in their nationality legislation to address this as a matter of urgency. This is a critical issue for women, and a fundamental aspect of the #IBelong Campaign going forward. […] Pledges were also made on ensuring better data, including through census exercises. These will help spur awareness and ensure that action is strategic and targeted. I was also very encouraged by the high level of media attention – including social media – which the event and our Nansen Award laureate have helped generate– giving the issue of stateless a visibility that it has never had before. I wish to thank all of you for your very strong support and engagement. [The pledges on statelessness received] relate to many of the actions in the Global Plan to End Statelessness, including the protection of stateless people, ratification or accession to the two statelessness conventions (or removal of reservations), naturalization provisions, and birth registration. 44 U N H C R > H I G H - L E V E L S E G M E N T O N S T A T E L E S S N E S S : R E S U LT S A N D H I G H L I G H T S