EVALUATION OF UNHCR-LED INITIATIVES TO END STATELESSNESS – FINAL REPORT – VOLUME I
capacity has not yet been achieved; nor was there any indication from key informants or corporate
documents that such increases were likely in the near future.
Figure 10 – HQ Statelessness Section staffing – total positions and costs
5
$800,000
$700,000
4
$600,000
$500,000
3
$400,000
2
$300,000
$200,000
1
$100,000
0
$2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Fixed-term staff
2015
2016
2017
Temporary staff
2018
2019
2020
Total staffing cost
Surge capacity
75. Staff capacity on statelessness has occasionally been supplemented using the Protection Surge
Capacity Project (Surge), a roster managed by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) on behalf of
UNHCR.54 Following the addition of statelessness as an area of competence within the roster, the first
statelessness deployments took place in 2005 – to Cambodia/Vietnam and Bangladesh. Since then,
there have generally been between one to four statelessness deployments from the Surge per year –
except for 2014 when there were seven deployments – with deployments lasting between one to sixteen
months (the average duration of deployment over the period 2005-2020 has been eight months). As
shown in Figure 11, the highest number of deployments between 2005 and 2020 were to the Asia region
(14 deployments in total), followed by Africa (13 deployments).
Figure 11 – Statelessness surge deployments, 2005-2020
7
Number of deployments
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
2005
2007
2008
2009
Africa
2011
Americas
2012
Asia
2013
2014
Europe
2015
2018
2019
2020
MENA
76. Statelessness Surge deployments were tightly managed. A strict process was in place for Country
Operations to request additional capacity from the roster, with the need to demonstrate that deployments
would contribute to developing and realizing a clear strategy on ending statelessness, rather than filling
54
The Protection Surge Capacity Project was originally designed for general protection deployments and was considered a non-emergency mechanism,
since staffing needs for emergencies were covered in parallel by the emergency function. It was intended as a way of supplementing existing staff capacity
with short-term, non-emergency personnel to cover priority niche areas of expertise where funding was otherwise not available. See:
https://www.rescue.org/page/surge#:~:text=The%20Protection%20Surge%20Capacity%20Project,to%20protect%20refugees%20during%20crises.
22
UNHCR / May, 2021