In a nutshell, nationality is the "right to have rights". But access to the exercise of these rights, is blocked. This is a human rights violation in the highest deree. This is the population we can truly call "The Unprotected".

Stateless people are spread over some 50 countries and, while the majority continues to live in their country of birth, statelessness is a root cause of refugee and migratory movement. It is also both a cause and effect of trafficking; in fact, the UN has reported that "lack of proof of citizenship is the single greatest risk factor for a girl or woman to be trafficked or otherwise exploited."

There are four major challenges that are faced in designing solutions that close the protection gap for this group of people: funding, political will, lack of established mechanisms and protocols, and invisibility.

Despite the magnitude, extremely few resources are spent on statelessness by the international community, including by UNHCR, the agency with the stateless protection mandate. Even if we can find the means to work with these people on the ground, though, we are likely to be operation in very hostile territory; our "help" is often not wanted.

There is but one durable solution: acquiring nationality.  As alternatives, however, we may want to consider also the less-than-permanent, less-than-durable solutions.

To view the complete statement, please see the pdf below.

Challenges to finding solutions to statelessness (408.01 KB)