SOLVING STATELESSNESS
Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Central Asia, and Europe.
The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, with which UNHCR has
collaborated to produce this volume, has become the first global NGO
dedicated to advocacy and research on statelessness issues. There
is also a UN Member State group of ‘Friends of the Campaign to End
Statelessness’ based in Geneva. The enhanced engagement of all these
actors has led to more statelessness-related activity everywhere –
from capitals around the world, to remote border areas, to the Human
Rights Council in Geneva. Academic literature on statelessness is also
flourishing, ranging from the recent ‘Nationality and Statelessness
under International Law’ (Edwards and van Waas) to ‘Citizenship and
Statelessness in Africa: The Law and Politics of Belonging’ (Manby).
It is therefore appropriate that this volume should focus on solutions
to statelessness. The global debates have moved beyond the need to
explain the problem and its causes and consequences. The time has
come to accelerate the momentum to implement durable solutions
effectively. The essays in this volume are important contributions in
this regard. They cover lessons learned from every region of the world.
They also explore opportunities for more coordinated engagement in
thematic areas important to the resolution of statelessness, such as
human rights and sustainable development.
There are already many principles and tools that are helpful to the cause
of resolving statelessness. A number of the essays in this volume give
a very timely, fresh appraisal of how these can be better leveraged to
promote solutions. These include chapters on addressing statelessness
through the right to equality (de Chickera and Whiteman), on the use
of facilitated naturalisation (Molnar) and strategic litigation (Bingham
and Gamboa) as tools to resolve cases and ensure remedies, as well as
on making effective use of the UN human rights mechanisms (Khanna
and Brett). At the same time, new challenges and opportunities are
emerging that demand closer examination – as offered, for instance,
in the essays on securing children’s right to nationality in the context
of international surrogacy (Achmad) and on what the Sustainable
Development Goals offer in terms of new avenues to solutions (Govil).
In seeking to achieve solutions to statelessness, it is prudent to be
mindful of how national and regional contexts may differ. I would urge
all readers, wherever they may live and work, to explore the essays
in this volume that focus on different regional situations, including
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