The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, on Friday called for stronger political commitment and action to improve the lives of the roughly 4.3 million stateless people worldwide who are “languishing without citizenship and living in the shadows.”
Ensuring the right to a nationality and eradicating statelessness is more pressing than ever, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Monday, as it marked the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Millions of stateless people around the world could miss out on COVID-19 vaccinations because they lack identity papers and are essentially “invisible to the authorities”.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has called on world leaders to take bold and swift action to eradicate statelessness by 2024.
Hate speech and misguided nationalism present a serious threat to efforts to tackle statelessness, despite growing public awareness of the problem, UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi said on Monday.
Statelessness affects 10 million people globally, so Chile’s adoption of international accords that promote a fundamental right to nationality is an important step, the UN Refugee Agency (UNCHR), said on Tuesday.
Without official nationality, people can face obstacles enrolling in school, seeking healthcare and getting married, as agency spokesperson William Spindler told Michelle Kusuma.