Chapter 1. Introduction Finally, in the past years, Global Compacts on migration212 and on refugees213 have been adopted, which “promise to respect the human rights of people on the move, to provide the conditions for them to live in safety and with dignity, and to empower them to enrich the societies in which they live”, but also “to build consensus on principles and practices to improve international cooperation on and management of human mobility”.214 These Global Compacts are not treaties and are not legally binding, but do provide a “roadmap” for cooperation and coordination on these matters.215 They also pay specific attention to preventing and solving statelessness. The Global Compact for Migration, for instance, recognizes the need to “[s]trengthen measures to reduce statelessness, including by registering migrants’ births, ensuring that women and men can equally confer their nationality on their children, and providing nationality to children born in another State’s territory, especially in situations where a child would otherwise be stateless, fully respecting the human right to a nationality and in accordance with national legislation”.216 The Global Compact on Refugees furthermore highlights the importance of identification of stateless people or those who are at risk of statelessness217, considers the relevance of birth registration to preventing statelessness218, and refers to other standards, good practices and initiatives on preventing and reducing statelessness, such as UNHCR’s #IBELONG campaign.219 Commentary on, in particular, the Global Compact for Migration, however, shows that there is certainly still room for improvement with regard to the people who are non-citizens everywhere. For instance, it “needs to be strengthened by an enhanced commitment to eliminating discrimination between citizens and migrants, and between different categories of migrants”220 and needs “future advocacy efforts [to] make explicit the relevance of statelessness to all 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (2018) UN Doc A/CONF/231/3 <https:// refugeesmigrants.un.org/sites/default/fi les/180713_agreed_outcome_global_compact_for_migration. pdf> accessed 5 September 2021. Global Compact on Refugees (2018) UN Doc A/73/12 (Part II) <https://www.unhcr.org/gcr/GCR_ English.pdf> accessed 5 September 2021. Jane McAdam, ‘The Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration: A New Era for International Protection’ (2018) 30 International Journal of Refugee Law 571, 572. Cf António Guterres, ‘Secretary-General’s Remarks at Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Migration’ (10 December 2018) <https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/ statement/2018–12–10/secretary-generals-remarks-intergovernmental-conference-adopt-the-globalcompact-for-migration-delivered> accessed 5 September 2021. Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (2018) UN Doc A/CONF/231/3, para 20 (e) <https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/sites/default/fi les/180713_agreed_outcome_global_compact_for_ migration.pdf> accessed 5 September 2021. Global Compact on Refugees (2018) UN Doc A/73/12 (Part II) para 60 <https://www.unhcr.org/gcr/ GCR_English.pdf> accessed 5 September 2021. Ibid, para 82. Ibid, para 83. Elspeth Guild, ‘The UN Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: What Place for Human Rights’ (2018) 30 International Journal of Refugee Law 661, 663. Intersentia 41