• The improvement of the national legal framework to make it consistent with international protection standards, in
particular through accession to the statelessness conventions (GSP 1.1);
77. Acquisition or confirmation of a nationality is the end result of protection activities for stateless persons and persons at
risk of statelessness, which is why concentrating on prevention and reduction of statelessness is imperative.
VII. Developing partnerships
78. In all statelessness situations, key stakeholders are the affected population, the State, civil society and other UN,
international and regional organizations. UNHCR guidance on the participatory, community-based and rights-based approach
apply to all populations of concern, including to stateless populations.
79. State institutions such as legislative bodies, ministries, local authorities, the judiciary, and national human rights
institutions all have a major influence on any statelessness situation. These authorities are often not the same as those
responsible for forced displacement issues and effective responses by UNHCR and partners may therefore require
developing additional relationships. A careful stakeholder analysis may reveal that some State actors seek international
support to address issues relating to statelessness.
80. The Executive Committee has also requested that UNHCR cooperate with other United Nations and international as well
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as relevant regional and non-governmental organizations to address statelessness. The following sections provide
additional information on these actors and their potential role in the field of statelessness.
a. Civil society
81. Civil society actors are key strategic allies as well as partners for UNHCR programmes. Successful responses in the past
have frequently hinged on full engagement of a range of civil society actors, in particular national NGOs. Stakeholder analysis
may therefore be useful to identify those actors who are already engaged or could potentially be engaged in efforts to address
statelessness. They include:
• Academic institutions and experts (research, teaching and provision of technical advice to States);
• NGOs, legal aid organizations and lawyers associations (studies and surveys, assistance and advice to individuals,
advocacy to address gaps in law and practice);
• Religious leaders and faith-based organizations (community outreach, advocacy);
• Trade unions and workers organizations (community outreach, advocacy);
• The media.
82. There are relatively few international NGOs with dedicated programmes focusing on statelessness. They include the
Open Society Institute which promotes legislative reform, undertakes litigation and advocacy on standard-setting and is also
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engaged in studies and surveys. Refugees International undertakes international advocacy efforts and regularly publishes
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country reports based on information gathered during field missions.
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Executive Committee Conclusions No. 78 (XLVI) – 1995, para. (d); No. 90 (LII) – 2001, para. (q); and No. 106 (LVII) – 2006, para. (p).
See in particular Africa Governance Monitoring and Advocacy Project (AfriMAP) and the Open Society Justice Initiative Citizenship
Law in Africa: A Comparative Study, available at
http://www.soros.org/initiatives/justice/focus/equality_citizenship/articles_publications/publications/citizenship_20091009.
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Field work by Refugees International also informed the 2008 publication Nationality Rights for All: A Progress Report and Global
Survey on Statelessness, available at http://www.refugeesinternational.org/policy/in-depth-report/nationality-rights-all.
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