WHAT IS STATELESSNESS? WHAT IS STATELESSNESS? WHAT IS STATELESSNESS? Take a moment and think about the milestones in your life; your first day of school, getting your driving licence, school graduation, your first time on an airplane, the first time you voted in an election, your first job. For the millions stateless people around the world, over 500,000 of whom live in Europe, these milestones that most of us take for granted are essentially unattainable. A stateless person is someone who is not a national of any country. Their lack of nationality renders them legally ‘invisible,’ denying them access to education, healthcare, the ability to marry, job opportunities, social services, the ownership of property, voting rights, the ability to travelthe list goes on. Statelessness can happen at birth or later on in life and occurs for various reasons, the most common being discriminatory nationality laws, state dissolution, and lack of birth registration. Statelessness disproportionately affects ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities around the world, with 75% of the world’s known stateless populations belonging to minority groups. Statelessness experienced by certain groups is both a symptom and a cause of their exclusion: it stems from 4 discrimination based on difference, and it reinforces their lack of full membership in the societies they live in, making everyday life much more difficult and solidifying civil and political exclusion. The two primary legal instruments on statelessness are the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. Furthermore, numerous human rights instruments contain provisions enshrining the right to nationality. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims in Article 15 that “Everyone has the right to a nationality” and “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.” Through the #IBelong campaign, UNHCR has identified ten tangible actions to end statelessness: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. While the numbers of stateless people around the world are staggering, there is cause for hope. In 2014, on the 60th anniversary of the 1954 Convention, the UNHCR launched the #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024. Unlike so many other problems facing governments today, statelessness is relatively easy to solve. Many governments have already reformed their nationality laws or taken concrete measures to grant nationality to stateless people. • ENDING STATELESSNESS IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE 8. 9. 10. Resolve existing major situations of statelessness. Ensure that no child is born stateless. Remove gender discrimination from nationality laws. Prevent denial, loss or deprivation of nationality on discriminatory grounds. Prevent statelessness in cases of State succession. Grant protection status to stateless migrants and facilitate their naturalization. Ensure birth registration for the prevention of statelessness. Issue nationality documentation to those with entitlement to it. Accede to the UN Statelessness Conventions. Improve quantitative and qualitative data on stateless populations. The #IBelong Campaign design developed in cooperation with United Colours of Benetton. ENDING STATELESSNESS IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE • 5