Our recommendations ahead of UNHCR’s High-Level Segment on Statelessness

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On Monday 14th October, ENS will be in Geneva to attend and speak at a High-Level Segment on Statelessness (HLS), which will form a key part of this year’s UNHCR’s Excom meeting, including to launch the Global Alliance to End Statelessness.

Bringing together governments, regional institutions, UN actors and other stakeholders from across the globe, the HLS will provide an important moment to reflect on progress towards addressing statelessness over the last ten years under UNHCR’s #IBelong Campaign as well as offer a critical opportunity to galvanise and accelerate collective efforts going forwards.

We have published a briefing on addressing statelessness in Europe which includes five key recommendations, including leveraging the Global Alliance to help unlock much needed reform. 

Download the Briefing

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Geneva Palais des Nations - by Mmoka on Unsplash

Our key recommendations

We have identified five key areas of action where the European Union, Council of Europe, and European States should focus greater attention and resources, including by leveraging the Global Alliance, to affect concrete reforms and support collective efforts to address statelessness:

  1. Ending childhood statelessness.

  2. Improving the identification and protection of stateless individuals.

  3. Addressing statelessness in Europe’s refugee response.

  4. Recognising and tackling statelessness as an intersectional issue.

  5. Engaging with the Global Alliance to End Statelessness, centring stateless people and developing a dedicated regional strategy to galvanise action.

Find out more about our key recommendations.

About the Global Alliance to End Statelessness

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Global Alliance to End Statelessness

The Global Alliance to End Statelessness is a collaborative multistakeholder platform led by UNHCR whose mission is to create “a world free from statelessness where everyone enjoys the right to a nationality without discrimination.” ENS is a member of the Global Alliance, has sat on the taskforce set up to support its development, and has been selected to serve on its inaugural Advisory Committee. We are delighted to join a Committee of 15 diverse members operating nationally, regionally or globally  – including several organisations led by stateless communities alongside UNHCR, UNICEF, OHCHR, OSCE, the League of Arab States, and the US and Philippines governments.

Immediately following the HLS, UNHCR and ENS are jointly organising and co-facilitating a Regional Network Lab on 15 and 16 October. Regional Network Labs are intended to support dynamic and interlinked networks of regional actors that can support the design and implementation of context-sensitive solutions to statelessness through the Global Alliance. Over two days, ENS and sister regional networks will present on different aspects of their development and work, followed by facilitated group discussions, and open spaces for trans-regional reflection, learning, and exchange between civil society, UNHCR, and community actors.

The launch of the Global Alliance provides an important opportunity and first step. However, ultimately its impact will depend on its ability to meaningfully engage all relevant stakeholders, its ability to secure necessary resourcing, and its success in translating this into much-needed reform on the ground in countries across the globe. This will also require UNHCR to continue to play a significant leadership and coordination role after the end of its #IBelong Campaign, and consistent with its mandate.

We at ENS, including our members and community representatives, stand ready to support these changemaking efforts towards ending statelessness in Europe and beyond.

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