10 Actions to End Statelessness “I feel like I am born again. Now I am free.” These are the sentiments of Tina Erick Akusunga, one of more than a thousand from the Makonde tribe who acquired Kenyan citizenship and identity papers in 2017 after years of statelessness. © UNHCR/ROGER ARNOLD, 2017 CONTEXT The majority of the world’s stateless people have lacked any nationality since they were born. This is for two primary reasons: (a) their parents were stateless and (b) they were born in a country with a nationality law that does not confer its nationality on children even if this means that they would be left stateless. In a number of other cases, children become stateless when they are born abroad and their parents have a nationality but cannot confer it under the law of their State of nationality. Children may also become stateless when they have been abandoned or separated from their family and their nationality cannot be ascertained. Some children affected by these circumstances are refugees. 12 UNHCR > HOW CAN THIS ACTION BE IMPLEMENTED? One of the most important safeguards to prevent statelessness is to ensure that nationality laws allow children born in the territory of a State to acquire the nationality of that State if they would otherwise be stateless. This safeguard is the cornerstone of efforts to prevent statelessness and is set out in the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. The importance of this safeguard is reinforced by standards included in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with respect to the right of every child to acquire a nationality. States are not required to grant nationality to all children born in their territories, but only to those who cannot acquire any other nationality. G LO B A L AC T I O N P L A N TO E N D S TAT E L E S S N E S S : 2 0 1 4 – 2 0 2 4