EVALUATION OF UNHCR-LED INITIATIVES TO END STATELESSNESS – FINAL REPORT – VOLUME I Executive summary Background UNHCR’s mandate to address statelessness has evolved significantly since 1951 from responsibilities for stateless refugees only, to 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. This evaluation was commissioned by the UNHCR Evaluation Service to generate evidence and insights regarding UNHCR’s work to support States to end statelessness and was timed to inform potential adjustments for the remaining years of GAP implementation. The evaluation covered the period of 2001 to 2020 with particular focus on actions and advocacy efforts of UNHCR and partners to support the GAP since 2014. A stateless person is defined as ‘a person who is not considered as a national by any State under the operation of its law’ (Article 1 of the1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons). The causes of statelessness include discrimination, conflicts between or gaps in nationality laws, state succession, border or sovereignty disputes, lack of documentation (including birth registration), and forced migration. Stateless persons often lack access to basic socioeconomic and political rights that citizens enjoy. Statelessness affects millions of people globally, though the exact number of stateless persons is unknown. In 2019 UNHCR reported 4.2 million stateless persons in 76 States as persons of concern. 1 Between 2010 and 2019, 754,500 stateless persons have acquired nationality. 2 The evaluation consisted of five key phases: the inception phase, remote data collection phase (global survey, interviews with internal and external stakeholders, documentation reviews), “deep dives” into four country operations (Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, the Philippines, and Tajikistan), three regional case studies (Americas, Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and consultations with Regional Engagement Groups in Africa and Asia and finally an analysis, validation and report writing phase. The final draft report was also subjected to a review by a Reference Group, comprising senior stakeholders from UNHCR and key partner agencies. Key Findings Evidence collected in the course of this evaluation reaffirm the importance that gaining nationality and official identification documentation (e.g. birth registration) has had for persons of concern, including the ability to access health care, housing, education, social services, facilitate freedom of movement and formal employment opportunities. Perhaps more importantly, citizenship and official recognition increase the sense of belonging and dignity and reduce fear of persecution and discrimination, as noted by persons formerly at-risk of statelessness in Cote d’Ivoire. Most key informants expressed the belief that the overall objective of the Campaign, to end statelessness in ten years, was aspirational. Although predicated on the fact that statelessness is solvable with adequate political will and investments, the underlying causes include multiple persistent political and socio-cultural drivers in addition to simply technical and administrative hurdles. While the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness is widely viewed as a useful framework to guide States, UNHCR and other partners, monitoring data against targets on the 10 GAP actions suggest underachievement of six and challenges or lack of information on the other four. UNHCR Contributions to Results Nevertheless, according to UNHCR, 754,500 stateless persons have acquired nationality in the past decade, including 341,000 since the campaign was launched in 2014. Most key informants believe that UNHCR and its partners have substantially contributed to this overall achievement through directly preventing and resolving cases of statelessness, advocacy, capacity building, technical support, and the provision of protection services. In addition, the evaluation found that UNHCR has directly and indirectly improved the lives of many 1 2 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. See UNHCR (2020) Refugee Global Trend. https://www.unhcr.org/en-ie/statistics/unhcrstats/5ee200e37/unhcr-global-trends-2019.html UNHCR / May, 2021 iii