EVALUATION OF UNHCR-LED INITIATIVES TO END STATELESSNESS – FINAL REPORT – VOLUME I
Table 5 – examples of UNHCR contributions and achievements from case studies
Mandate
Key achievements linked to UNHCR advocacy, technical support and assistance
Prevention
▪ Improvement of birth registration rates, procedures, law (MENA, Kenya, Albania)
▪ Facilitating access to identification and documentation for refugees (MENA)
▪ Legal reform to create safeguards against childhood statelessness (Albania)
Identification
▪ Mapping and improved data for stateless persons and persons at risk of statelessness (Albania, Cote d’Ivoire,
Kenya, Philippines, Tajikistan)
▪ Inclusion of statelessness in national census (Kenya, Tajikistan)
Protection
▪ Statelessness determination procedures (Cote d’Ivoire, Philippines, Ukraine)
▪ Provision of assistance (through partners) to populations at risk of statelessness with civil documentation and
legal advice (Albania, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Philippines, Tajikistan, Ukraine, some MENA countries)
Resolution
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
Crosscutting
▪ Increased public and PoC awareness (Kenya, Cote d’Ivoire, Tajikistan)
▪ Increased political will among government leaders / parliamentarians (Albania, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Philippines,
Ukraine)
▪ Building capacity of government and civil society to act against statelessness (Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Philippines,
Tajikistan)
▪ Accession to the 1954 and 1961 Conventions (Cote d’Ivoire, Philippines (1954, pledges at HLS for 1961)
▪ Statelessness National Action Plans (Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya (draft), Philippines)
▪ Inter-ministerial/agency steering committees / national task force (Kenya, Rwanda, Philippines, Tajikistan)
▪ HLS commitments (Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Mauritania, Philippines, Tajikistan)
▪ Facilitating collaboration between government, civil society, media, academic and UN stakeholders (Cote d’Ivoire,
Kenya, Philippines, Tajikistan)
▪ Strengthening civil registration and civil status documentation (Cote d’Ivoire)
Registration and granting of citizenship for in-situ stateless persons (Kenya, Philippines, Tajikistan)
Granting of citizenship to displaced / migrants and their children (Colombia)
Legal assistance leading to reduction in statelessness (Iraq)
Nationality for foundlings (Cote d’Ivoire, Philippines (pending), Spain)
Nationality by declaration for in-situ stateless (Cote d’Ivoire)
Monitoring and assessment of progress
Finding 5: The Global Action Plan to end Statelessness is widely viewed as a useful framework to
guide States, UNHCR and other partners. However, the ambitions of the campaign and targets set
within the GAP have proven to be highly aspirational and are unlikely to be achieved by 2024.
85. Most key informants expressed the belief that the overall objective of the campaign, to end statelessness
in ten years, was highly aspirational and even unrealistic. Although predicated on the fact that
statelessness is solvable with adequate political will and
"It was a calculated risk to put out as
investments, the underlying causes include multiple persistent
bold of an objective as possible, to
political and socio-cultural drivers in addition to simply technical
help galvanize action, even if we
and administrative hurdles. The aspirational nature of the
potentially would not get to the full
campaign objective and specific GAP action targets is viewed as
goal.” – Key informant interview
a deliberate effort to motivate action.
86. The Statelessness Section monitors progress against many of the GAP actions and produces quarterly
campaign updates and periodic briefings for stakeholders. Table 6 shows the summary achievements
and assessment of progress for each GAP action. The achievements included in the table are based on
UNHCR’s gathering of information about States’ progress on GAP actions, triangulated with other
documentary evidence (including official records of accessions to the Conventions), interviews and other
information collected in case studies.
UNHCR / May, 2021
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