➢ Statelessness is a minority rights issue. A disproportionate number of the world’s stateless population are members of a minority group. For stateless minorities, statelessness tends to perpetuate and worsen the discrimination and marginalization they already face. For more information, see This is our Home: Stateless Minorities and their Search for Citizenship, available at http://www.refworld.org/docid/59e4a6534.html. ➢ Statelessness is a development issue. When thousands of people are stateless, the result is communities that are alienated and marginalized, and whose development potential is severely undermined. The promise contained in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that “no one will be left behind” cannot be realized unless all persons are recognized as full members of society. SDG 16.9 calls for States to ensure that all persons have a legal identity, including birth registration, by 2030. For more information about statelessness and the SDGs, as well as every child’s right to birth registration, a name, and nationality, see The Sustainable Development Goals and Addressing Statelessness at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/58b6e3364.html, and https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/birth-registration/. ➢ Statelessness is a peace and security issue. Unresolved statelessness can lead to conflict and threats to security and stability, within and across borders. Counter-terrorism concerns can be used as a pretext for depriving political opponents or dissidents of nationality. ➢ Addressing statelessness requires reliable data. Improving reliability of global estimates and conducting joint research will reinforce efforts to develop international standards and improve national capacity for data collection and analysis with data protections that avoid putting marginalized and vulnerable populations at greater risk. The 2020 round of population censuses and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration provide important opportunities for improving data collection on the extent of statelessness and the characteristics of stateless persons. Key Messages (Advocating for pledges at the 2019 High-Level Event in Geneva) ➢ Ending statelessness is achievable. There is strong momentum and all governments have the opportunity to contribute to this important goal by making firm pledges at the High-Level Event on Statelessness in Geneva in October 2019 to mark the mid-way point of the #IBelong Campaign. ➢ All States that have not yet done so are encouraged to accede to the Statelessness Conventions or to consider making time-bound pledges to do so at the 2019 High-Level Event. For information on States that are currently Party to the Statelessness Conventions, see https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetailsII.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=V3&chapter=5&Temp=mtdsg2&clang=_en for States Parties to the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons and https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=V4&chapter=5&clang=_en for States Parties to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. For good practices with respect to accession to the statelessness conventions, see http://www.refworld.org/docid/553f617f4.html. ➢ States with existing protracted situations of statelessness are encouraged to take steps to accelerate resolution. For publicly available data on existing large stateless populations, see UNHCR’s statistical reporting, available at http://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2016/. For good practices with respect to the resolution of statelessness in specific situations, see http://www.refworld.org/docid/54e75a244.html. 2