Interview with Carol Batchelor, UNHCR’s Special Advisor on Statelessness What is your role as UNHCR’s Special Advisor on Statelessness? The High-Level Event on Statelessness, planned to take place in October 2019, will mark the mid-way point in our 10-year #IBelong Campaign. This Campaign was launched in 2014 with a view to ensure all stateless persons have been identified and supported with solutions by 2024. My particular role is to facilitate a High-Level Event which advances these goals by ensuring that at this critical mid-way point, together with states, organizations, civil society and stateless persons, we take stock of successes in the first five years of the Campaign and that we secure concrete commitments in the form of pledges for the remaining five years. The midway point therefore represents our opportunity to ensure the success of the entire Campaign, running until 2024, in securing solutions for stateless persons. UNHCR’s Special Advisor on Statelessness, Carol Batchelor, speaks at the statelessness side event during UNHCR’s 2018 Executive Committee meeting, Switzerland, ©UNHCR/S. Hopper know how many people have already been spared a life of statelessness as a result of these progressive steps, but we can unequivocally say that the number is significant. Several states have made progress on one or more of the Campaign goals, such as improvements in birth registration, avoiding statelessness at birth, resolution of protracted situations of statelessness, and the adoption of procedures to help to determine if someone is stateless. The Campaign has also served as a platform for states to address this issue at the regional level through concerned organizations, and the positive impact of this will be felt for years to come. I hope to see a greater focus in the second half of the Campaign on the gathering of reliable data as well as on statistical reporting which will help to define the scope of the problem of statelessness. With concentrated ongoing determination and advocacy, we will see continued progress and even greater dividends ahead in the reduction of statelessness. What do you expect to accomplish during your assignment? I first worked on statelessness in the early ’90s. Coming back to it after many years working in other fields, it is remarkable to see all the progress made. Having said that, there is still a lot that remains to be done. Stateless people continue to live on the fringes of society and most cannot claim an absolute entitlement to live, work, marry, educate themselves or even access health care. Children continue to be born without registration or an identity in any state. Through this Campaign we have the opportunity to shine a much greater light on the nature and scope of the problem of statelessness and to secure lasting solutions so that those who are either stateless or at risk of statelessness today will have a chance to find their place in society. What can field operations do to support the High-Level Event and the Campaign? The High Commissioner recently sent a letter to all member and observer states to remind them of the #IBelong Campaign, to invite them to the High-Level Event, and to appeal for their increased efforts toward the elimination of statelessness. At the Event, states will have the opportunity to highlight their accomplishments to date and to outline concrete, timebound pledges for the remaining five years of the Campaign. In support of this all, operations are encouraged to strengthen their advocacy, identify areas where they can facilitate progress toward specific goals, and actively advise HQs of where we can collaborate in advancing our Campaign’s success. What have been the biggest achievements of the #IBelong Campaign so far? The #IBelong Campaign calls on all states to individually ensure 10 critical steps which, when combined at the global level, would result in the eradication of statelessness. An extremely important achievement of the Campaign to date is that it has brought focus and has moved many states to take proactive, forward-looking actions that deal with the issue now. We will likely never 3