Global Initiatives

KEY MESSAGES 

• Global awareness of and efforts to address statelessness have significantly increased since the early 2000s, with the year 2024 seeing the establishment of several important new initiatives: the Global Alliance to End Statelessness, the Global Movement Against Statelessness and the Global Statelessness Fund. 
• The launch of the Global Alliance to End Statelessness marks a key milestone in the evolution of UN-level initiatives, building on the previous UNHCR-led #IBelong Campaign from 2014-2024 to create a more inclusive and sustainable platform for action. 
• The Global Movement Against Statelessness is a collaborative civil society effort to come together and shift power, to ensure that those affected by statelessness lead change efforts and to strengthen solidarity and community among those working in the field. 
• The convening of the statelessness field at global conferences, in 2014, 2019 and 2024, has boosted peer learning, networking and collaboration between stakeholders, with each conference receiving more attention and attendance by those affected by statelessness. 
• Statelessness has received growing attention within the UN human rights system, including through an expansive 2023 resolution on the right to nationality and statelessness that addresses an array of causes and consequential impacts of statelessness. 
• Resolving statelessness, as well as the protection of the rights of stateless people, are inherently linked to a number of Sustainable Development Goals – in particular, goal 16.9 which establishes the target of providing legal identity for all by 2030. 
• Academic scholarship on statelessness has also been growing, with initiatives and networks such as a global PhDs network, a dedicated academic journal on the issue, and a critical scholarship blog. 

STATELESSNESS AS A GLOBAL ISSUE 

Statelessness is a global issue, affecting uncountable millions of people around the world. The importance of global initiatives to address statelessness to complement and amplify local, national and regional efforts is therefore crucial. Previously regarded as a niche technical, academic issue, statelessness has received growing attention since the early 2000s. In 2014, UNHCR launched the #IBelong Campaign to end statelessness and people working on the issue came together from around the world at the Global Forum on Statelessness in the Peace Palace in the Hague. In the same year, the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights was formed, which is a global initiative to address gender discrimination within nationality laws, a leading cause of statelessness. One year later, the Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the UN, providing a further framework through which to address some of the causes and impacts of statelessness. Goal 16.9 is particularly important in this regard which sets the target of providing legal identity for all by 2030. Momentum gathered further in 2019 with the first World Conference on Statelessness in The Hague. It was at this point that the aspiration to establish a global civil society movement against statelessness was first articulated. In early 2024, the Global Movement against Statelessness was officially launched at the second World Conference on Statelessness in Kuala Lumpur. Also in 2024, the Global Statelessness Fund was officially established and the Global Alliance to End Statelessness launched as a follow on from the #IBelong Campaign. 

THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE TO END STATELESSNESS 

UNHCR’s ambitious #IBelong Campaign was launched in 2014 and set a 10-year goal to eradicate statelessness around the globe by resolving existing situations of statelessness and preventing the emergence of new cases. As the #IBelong Campaign draws to an end, the Global Alliance to End Statelessness is a new initiative that seeks to accelerate solutions to statelessness through a multistakeholder approach, which crucially centres the perspectives and expertise of stateless and formerly stateless people. Formally launching in October 2024, the Global Alliance seeks to capitalise on the momentum generated by the #IBelong Campaign and acts as a platform to amplify joint advocacy efforts, catalyse political commitments to address statelessness, and accelerate the implementation of concrete solutions. Membership of the Global Alliance is open to various stakeholders, including UN Member States, intergovernmental regional organizations, UN agencies, civil society and stateless-led organizations, academic institutions, faith-based organizations, inter-parliamentary unions, philanthropic foundations, and the private sector. Civil society and stateless-led organizations, UN Agencies, and other prospective members can complete an application form on the Global Alliance website. 

THE GLOBAL CAMPAIGN FOR EQUAL NATIONALITY RIGHTS 

The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, is a campaign which mobilises international action to end gender discrimination in nationality laws, through local and international advocacy, activism, research, capacity building and knowledge sharing. Formed in 2014, the campaign works to advocate for the amendment of the discriminatory nationality laws in 50+ countries where women are unable to confer their nationality to non-national spouses, and the 24 countries where women are unable to pass their nationality to their children. Coalition members include NGOs, UN agencies, activists, academics, civil society organisations and government allies. In 2023, the campaign held the first Global Summit on Gender Equality in Nationality Laws, where a number of states made commitments to end gender discrimination in nationality laws.   

WORLD CONFERENCES ON STATELESSNESS 

A number of global convenings of the statelessness field have served as important forums for bringing together different stakeholders to exchange ideas and think collaboratively about addressing statelessness. In 2014, the Global Forum on Statelessness took place in the Hague, organised by Tilburg University and UNHCR, which marked the launch of the #IBelong Campaign to end statelessness. Discussions revolved predominantly around the three themes of statelessness and security, statelessness and children, and responses to statelessness. In 2019, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion convened the first World Conference on Statelessness, also in the Hague, bringing together nearly 300 individuals working on statelessness, as well as those affected by statelessness. It was during this conference that discussions around a global civil society movement against statelessness were first had, with strong support offered by participants for this aspiration for the field. In 2019, the High-Level Segment on Statelessness organised by UNHCR took place, where states made pledges to resolve and prevent statelessness on their territories. In 2024, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion collaborated with Nationality For All and DHRRA Malaysia to convene the second World Conference on Statelessness in Kuala Lumpur. This was the largest gathering to date: the Conference brought together around 450 participants with lived and learned experience of statelessness from over 50 countries and all regions of the world, to exchange perspectives, ideas and skills around the themes of “Knowledge”, “Solidarity” and “Change”. Around 30% of those who responded to an anonymous voluntary survey at the opening session, indicated they had lived experience of statelessness.  

STATELESSNESS AND THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS SYSTEM 

Statelessness has received increasing attention in the UN Human Rights system over the years. Within the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the only state-to-state review mechanism for the human rights records of all UN member states, the level of attention paid to statelessness has greatly improved over time – the number of relevant recommendations per cycle went up from 150 recommendations in the first cycle, to 635 recommendations in the third. Nationality and statelessness issues are also dealt with in the regular monitoring activities of the different UN human rights bodies – such as the treaty bodies (committees of experts responsible for ensuring state compliance with each of the respective core human rights treaties). These Committees, such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child, have issued a multitude of recommendations to states on how to address violations of the right to a nationality or the rights of stateless people. Although there is no dedicated UN Special Rapporteur on statelessness and the right to a nationality, those Special Rapporteurs and Independent Experts who have relevant mandates have addressed the issue in their work – such as the Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues and the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism. In 2023, the UN Human Rights Council issued a groundbreaking resolution on The Right to a Nationality: Equality in Nationality Rights in Law and in Practice, which calls on states to take measures to address the root causes of statelessness and the consequential human rights violations that stateless people still widely confront due to their lack of nationality. 

STATELESSNESS AND THE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS 

The Sustainable Development Goals, set out in the 2030 Agenda for Development, are also relevant for addressing statelessness and ensuring that the rights of stateless people are respected. They are universal goals that apply to all UN member states, with the core focus being that no one should be left behind, and the furthest behind should be reached first. This means paying special attention to the discriminatory structures that cause and perpetuate statelessness. All of the 17 SDGs relate in some way to statelessness – both preventing and resolving statelessness, and protecting the rights of stateless people. SDG 16.9 is particularly relevant to statelessness, which specifies, “by 2030, to provide legal identity for all, including birth registration”. However, there is a risk that if this goal is pursued from solely a development perspective, without addressing the root causes of statelessness, that this could further entrench exclusion. For example, if digital identity systems are rolled out without careful consideration of those who are already excluded through lack of documentation, this could result in stateless people being unable to receive digital identification, and being locked out of new, more ‘efficient’ systems. 

[Last updated May 2024] 

Cover image by Mmoka