and Justice Initiative briefed participants on the
work of the COVID-19 Emergency Statelessness
Fund Consortium and the Consortium’s report on
COVID-19 and stateless people.
On 15 April, the Institute on Statelessness and
Inclusion convened the webinar “How to Protect
Every Child’s Right to a Nationality – A Discussion
with the UN Treaty Body Experts”. Panelists
exchanged ideas about how best to give effect
to the right to a nationality and discussed the
evolving approaches and jurisprudence of their
respective committees. The panelists also unpacked
the challenges and opportunities that come with
monitoring a cross-cutting issue like the right to a
nationality.
On 17 June, the COVID-19 Emergency Statelessness
Fund Consortium launched its report “TOGETHER
WE CAN: The COVID-19 Impact on Stateless
People & A Roadmap for Change”. The report
documents the impacts of the pandemic on
stateless people and is grounded in the experiences
and expertise of CESF Consortium members in
13 countries. The report sets out a roadmap to
address the structural discrimination and exclusion
of stateless people during times of COVID-19 and
beyond.
On 21 April, the European Network on Statelessness
(ENS) convened the virtual event “Statelessness
and the Right to Health beyond the pandemic”
to launch its report “Situation assessment of
statelessness, health, and COVID-19 in Europe”
which focuses on the intersection of statelessness
and the right to health.
On 21 June, the International Institute of
Humanitarian Law, in partnership with UNHCR,
inaugurated its first Online Course on Statelessness
which will run through 16 July. Participants of the
course include over 50 government officials, civil
society representatives and academics from 38
countries across the world.
On 14 June, the Institute on Statelessness and
Inclusion held a fifth virtual lecture as part of the
Global Seminar Series on Citizenship Stripping
entitled “Deprivation of nationality as a counterterrorism measure: A human rights and security
perspective”.
On 1 June, the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality
Rights convened the virtual event “Youth Activism
for Gender Equality in Nationality Laws”. Youth
activists from Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle
East discussed their involvement in advocacy
efforts to advance gender-equal nationality rights
and presented innovative approaches to this end.
A keynote speech was delivered by the Executive
Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka.
On 25 May, the League of Arab States (LAS), in
partnership with UNHCR, convened the virtual “Arab
Regional Conference: Towards an Action Plan on
Belonging and Legal Identity”. The conference
resulted in the endorsement of a regional Action
Plan to address statelessness, which will be referred
to the Arab Interior and Justice Ministers Councils
for final adoption. The Action Plan was developed
to support the implementation of the 2018 Arab
Declaration on Belonging and Legal Identity, which
calls on States to ensure gender equal nationality
rights and to uphold every child’s right to a name
and a legal identity.
On 23 June, Think Tank Hub Geneva organized
the virtual event “Excluded and Invisible: How
to protect stateless people?”. Panelists from
UNHCR, the European Network on Statelessness
and elsewhere presented highlights from their
contributions to the “Atlas of the Stateless”, a recent
publication sponsored by the Rosa Luxemburg
Stiftung Foundation.
2