Half a million stateless people got citizenship in past decade: UN

GENEVA: The UN said on Friday that in the decade since it launched a campaign to end the limbo of statelessness, over half a million people without a nationality had acquired citizenship.

In a report, the United Nations´ refugee agency detailed the progress made since it launched its #IBelong campaign in 2014. Its aim was to mobilise international action to resolve the problem of statelessness.

The UNHCR described statelessness as “a major human rights violation”.

It leaves people politically and economically marginalised, unable to access critical services and particularly vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, the agency argued.

Last year, the UNHCR reported that there were 4.4 million stateless people recorded, but that millions more were affected since the data only covers around half of the world´s countries.

The campaign, which ends this year, aimed to address “a largely invisible crisis: that of millions of people around the world living in the shadows, without a nationality, unable to assert their most basic human rights”, said UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi.

While welcoming “significant progress” towards the ambitious goal of ending statelessness, he added “our work is not yet done”.

The report found that “more than 565,900 stateless people and persons with undetermined nationality gained nationality” over the past decade.

Australian actor Cate Blanchett, UNHCR´s goodwill ambassador, said the progress had been “remarkable”.