EVALUATION OF UNHCR-LED INITIATIVES TO END STATELESSNESS – FINAL REPORT – VOLUME I 1. Introduction and background 1. UNHCR has had a mandate concerning stateless refugees dating back to its original Statute and the 1951 Convention related to the Status of Refugees. This mandate has evolved significantly since 1951, in international law and through United Nations General Assembly decisions 3 to encompass responsibilities not only for stateless refugees but also for the identification and protection of non-refugee stateless persons and the prevention and reduction of statelessness itself. In 2014 UNHCR redoubled its efforts under this mandate and established the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness: 2014 - 2024 (GAP) as a guiding framework for its Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024. 2. This evaluation was commissioned by the UNHCR Evaluation Service (ES) to generate evidence and insights regarding UNHCR’s work to support States to end statelessness. It coincides with the mid-point of the Campaign to End Statelessness, launched in 2014, and the related Global Action Plan to End Statelessness: 2014 - 2024 (GAP). The evaluation was timed to inform potential adjustments for the remaining years of GAP implementation. It coincides with a concurrent evaluation commissioned by the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration on statelessness efforts and is the first UNHCR commissioned statelessness evaluation since 2001. 3. A stateless person is defined as ‘a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law’ by the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (Article 1). Statelessness continues to affect millions of people globally. The actual number of stateless persons is unknown, and experts disagree about means of estimating the population. Based mainly on government sources, UNHCR reported 4.2 million stateless persons in 76 States as persons of concern in 2019.4 Between 2010 and 2019 UNHCR reported that 754,500 stateless persons have acquired nationality. 5 Statelessness data is scarce in most States and the scale of statelessness is likely much larger than currently estimated. Less than half of all countries in the world submit any data including populous countries with a large suspected stateless population. 6 4. The consequences of statelessness are multiple. Without any nationality, stateless persons often lack access to basic rights that citizens enjoy. Statelessness affects socio-economic rights such as education, employment, social welfare, housing, healthcare as well as civil and political rights, including freedom of movement, property rights, inheritance rights, freedom from arbitrary detention and political participation. Stateless persons are alienated and marginalized, and in the worst cases, statelessness can perpetuate multi-generational poverty and lead to conflict and displacement. 7 2. Purpose and scope of the evaluation 5. The evaluation is intended to serve learning and accountability purposes and help UNHCR strengthen its efforts at global, regional and country levels to resolve existing situations of statelessness, prevent new cases, and better identify and protect stateless persons. 6. Six objectives for the evaluation are outlined in the Terms of Reference (ToR – see annex 1), including four key lines of inquiry related to: a. mainstreaming and institutionalizing work on statelessness within UNHCR, b. outcomes and progress stemming from initiatives implemented to contribute to the GAP, c. relevance and effectiveness of efforts to end statelessness and the factors that supported or inhibited this, and d. the effects of actions to end statelessness on the protection, human rights and gender equity of stateless and formerly stateless persons. 7. The last two objectives relate to outcomes expected from the triangulated analysis and country case study work of the evaluation for i) generating good practices and/or lessons learned and analysis that can help enhance ongoing efforts of UNHCR and its partners, and ii) generating recommendations for actions 3 See in particular UNGA resolutions A/RES49/169 of 23 December 1994, A/RES/50/152 of 21 December 1995 and A/RES/61/137 of 19 December 2006. UNHCR Global Trends Forced Displacement in 2019, page 68. This number of stateless persons include the number of persons of ‘undetermined nationality’ who may be confirmed as such if a stateless determination would take place. 5 See UNHCR (2020) Refugee Global Trend. https://www.unhcr.org/en-ie/statistics/unhcrstats/5ee200e37/unhcr-global-trends-2019.html 6 Ibid. 7 UNHCR’s What is Statelessness. https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/wp-content/uploads/UNHCR-Statelessness-2pager-ENG.pdf 4 4 UNHCR / May, 2021