I n November 2014, the #IBelong Campaign was launched, with the aim to end statelessness by 2024. The accompanying Global Action Plan sets out that this is to be achieved by resolving existing statelessness, preventing new cases from emerging and better identifying and protecting stateless populations. Session: Supporting the UNHCR high level event on Statelessness and implementation of its outcomes Moderator: Radha Govil UNHCR Expert on Statelessness Panelists: Carol Batchelor UNHCR Special Advisor Hervé Kuate UNHCR Senior Regional Protection Officer, West Africa Jelvas Musau UNHCR Senior Regional Protection Officer, Asia/Pacific Johanna Seidl International Refugee Rights Initiative Benedicte Voos UNHCR Senior Regional Protection Officer, East Africa 38 The #IBelong Campaign reaches its half-way point this year and the anniversary was marked by UNHCR in October with a “High-Level Segment” on statelessness: an intergovernmental meeting of UN Member States and other stakeholders in Geneva. As part of preparations for this event, during the ISI World Conference, UNHCR ran a session titled ‘Supporting the UNHCR high level event on statelessness and implementation of its outcomes.’ The panel discussed the #IBelong Campaign’s achievements to date, the goals and modalities of the October event and the implementation of its outcomes with a forward-looking discussion about the second half of the #IBelong Campaign. On Saturday 29 June, a day after the closing of the Conference, many of the NGOs and activists present at the Conference stayed on in the Hague to take part in a global civil society strategy meeting. With all of the ideas the conference generated around how to build a global statelessness movement still fresh in everyone’s minds, the purpose of the Saturday meetings was to provide a space where NGOs and activists could each talk freely with their peers about the current state of affairs, air and discuss any grievances and collaboratively discuss how to move forward post-conference. The meeting was also a chance for civil society to look ahead to UNHCR’s High-Level Segment and further discuss joint engagement at this event. The High-Level Segment on Statelessness took place on the 7th of October. The meeting gave States the opportunity to highlight key achievements in addressing statelessness since the #IBelong Campaign was launched and deliver concrete pledges to address statelessness in the remaining five years left of the campaign. In his opening statement, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi spoke about the impact of statelessness on people and emphasised the importance of maintaining momentum to address statelessness. Film star and Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, Cate Blanchett, then interviewed Maha Mamo, a statelessness activist who also spoke movingly on the Closing Plenary of the Conference in the Hague in June. Mamo spent 30 years stateless in Lebanon before relocating to Brazil where she received citizenship in 2018 and she continues to be a powerful advocate for the right to a nationality.