Introduction & Recommendations “ Denied nationality and deprived basic rights and welfare, the stateless were already marginalised before the crisis. They now face even greater, life-threatening marginalisation, with potentially disastrous consequences. Joint statement by 84 civil society organisations (27 May 2020)1 In 2011, António Guterres, – speaking then as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees – described statelessness as the world’s “most forgotten human-rights problem”.2 To be stateless, to not have any nationality, means “you’re not able to send children to school or go to a health centre, to be able to work legally or to have property”, he explained. Problems compounded by the fact that “stateless people are in legal limbo”. Today, his successor, Filippo Grandi, warns that the stateless risk being left further behind in the response to COVID-19.3 By design and default, many stateless communities face devastating consequences in relation to health and wellbeing; survival and livelihoods; hate speech, racism and xenophobia; border closures and movement restrictions; insecurity and detention; and new risks of statelessness. There are also concerns about wider impacts on sustaining engagement on statelessness and the right to nationality, as the structural underpinnings of statelessness remain in place and in some instances have been further entrenched as COVID-19 continues to spread. The right to a nationality is a fundamental human right and in this time of crisis it can mean the difference between life or death. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) has tailored existing programmes to meet some of these challenges, while establishing a dedicated COVID-19 response.4 We have been monitoring the impact of the global pandemic on stateless persons and the right to a nationality through tracking online reporting on the issue; consulting with civil society partners at global, regional, national and grassroots levels and publishing an Appeal for Information in six languages.5 We have maintained a spotlight on the COVID-19 impact on the stateless through op-eds,6 our Monthly Bulletins,7 and a Briefing Note,8 have been coordinating and facilitating a joined-up civil society response at global level,9 while simultaneously working directly with activists and NGOs at country-level. A central instrument of our response has been the establishment of a dedicated COVID-19 Emergency Statelessness Fund (CESF). Filippo Grandi UN High Commissioner for Refugees The ability of states and the international community to deal effectively with the global health threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and its wider fall-out for the economy, peace and security is bound up in the ability to include everyone, just as a successful humanitarian response relies on reaching everyone on the basis of need. Without urgent and sustained intervention, the stateless, those whose nationality is under threat and those denied equal nationality rights, will continue to not be factored in or reached. As the fault lines of racism, xenophobia, patriarchy and intolerance deepen during this time of global crisis, stateless minorities and migrants are also more likely to be blamed and scapegoated as the virus spreads. This Impact Report, pulls together and synthesises the information we have collated to-date on the impact of COVID-19 on the stateless and those whose nationality is under threat around the world. Joint statement, ‘In solidarity with the stateless: An urgent call to states, donors and other stakeholders to promote and protect the rights of stateless persons in their COVID-19 responses’ (27 May 2020), available at https://files.institutesi.org/Joint_Statement_in_Solidarity_with_the_Stateless.pdf. 2 S. van Gilder Cooke, ‘Q&A: Antonio Guterres, UNHCR High Commissioner for Refugees’ Time (26 August 2011), available at http://content.time.com/time/ world/article/0,8599,2090561,00.html. 3 UNHCR, ‘UNHCR warns stateless people risk being left behind in coronavirus response’ (11 May 2020), available at https://www.unhcr.org/news/ press/2020/5/5eb952222ec/unhcr-warns-stateless-people-risk-behind-coronavirus-response.html. 4 See section on ‘ISI’s COVID-19 Response’ further on in this report. 5 ISI, ‘Appeal for Information on COVID-19 and Statelessness’, available at https://www.institutesi.org/news/appeal-for-information-covid-19-andstatelessness. 6 A. de Chickera, ‘As the world washes its hands of the stateless, they risk facing COVID-19 alone’ Open Democracy (27 April 2020), available at https://www. opendemocracy.net/en/world-washes-its-hands-stateless-they-risk-facing-covid-19-alone/. 7 ISI, ‘Statelessness Monthly Bulletins’, available at https://www.institutesi.org/core-activities/monthly-bulletin. 8 ISI, ‘Briefing note: Stateless in a Global Pandemic’ (May 2020), available at https://files.institutesi.org/Stateless_in_a_pandemic_Briefing_Note.pdf. 9 Including by facilitating the publication of the ‘Joint Statement: In Solidarity with the Stateless’, with 83 other civil society organisations (available at: https:// files.institutesi.org/Joint_Statement_in_Solidarity_with_the_Stateless.pdf) and co-convening a webinar with 18 other civil society groups on 28 May 2020 (see further: https://www.institutesi.org/pages/webinar-stateless-in-a-pandemic). 1 3