UN Refugee Agency urges all states to work to end child statelessness

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday spotlighted the urgent need to end child statelessness, calling on all states to take steps in this regard.

UNHCR released a report in the day to mark one year since the launch of its #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024, saying that in every 10 minutes, a child is born stateless somewhere in the world and stateless children across the world share the same feelings of discrimination, frustration and despair.

"Unable to study, train for a career or even open a bank account, they face a lifetime of discrimination as their status profoundly affects their ability to learn, grow, and fulfil their dreams and ambitions," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing held here, quoting the UN agency's report.

According to the UN spokesman, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres was at UN Headquarters in New York Tuesday to present the new report at a high-level panel discussion on the importance of the right to nationality.

"In the short time that children get to be children, statelessness can set in stone grave problems that will haunt them throughout their childhoods and sentence them to a life of discrimination, frustration and despair," said Guterres, who stressed that no child should be stateless.

The report, entitled "I am Here, I Belong: The Urgent Need to End Childhood Statelessness," has been described as the first geographically diverse survey of the views of stateless children, which identifies the common problems they face as profoundly affecting their ability to enjoy childhood, lead a healthy life, study and fulfil their ambitions.

More than 250 people in Cote d'Ivoire, the Dominican Republic, Georgia, Italy, Jordan, Malaysia and Thailand, including children, youth and their parents or guardians, were interviewed for the report in last July and August, according to UN officials here.

Children shared about the tough challenges they face growing up, often on the margins of society, denied the rights most citizens enjoy. Many reportedly said they are often treated like foreigners in the country they have lived in all their lives.

Statelessness affects the future of young people. Many of the dozens of young people interviewed in the seven countries said that being stateless had taken a serious psychological toll, describing themselves as "invisible," "alien," "living in a shadow," "like a street dog" and "worthless."

According to UNHCR, stateless young people are often denied the opportunity to receive school qualifications, go to university and find a decent job. They face discrimination and harassment by authorities and are more vulnerable to exploitation. Their lack of nationality often sentences them and their families and communities to remain impoverished and marginalized for generations.

During the past year, regional initiatives and actions by States have seen the global community rally behind UNHCR's campaign, but UNHCR is calling on more countries to support it.

In order to end statelessness, UNHCR is urging all States to allow children to gain the nationality of the country in which they are born if they would otherwise be stateless; reform laws that prevent mothers from passing their nationality to their children on an equal basis as fathers; eliminate laws and practices that deny children nationality because of their ethnicity, race or religion; and ensure universal birth registration to prevent statelessness. Endit