Action Plan of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) on the Eradication of Statelessness 2017-2024
Published: 19/Oct/2017
Source: International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR)
[originally adopted 2017; extended and expanded in 2019 & 2020]
Globally, millions of people including many in the Great Lakes Region are stateless or at risk of statelessness. They cannot enjoy the full range of human rights. Among the causes of statelessness in the Great Lakes Region are gaps in nationality laws and policies. Even though there is no regional legal framework to address these gaps, efforts have been made by Member States of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) to resolve this problem by, for example, acceding to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and/or the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.
Furthermore, Heads of States and Governments adopted the Dar-Es-Salaam Declaration on Peace, Security, Democracy and Development in the Great Lakes Region on 24 November 2004 (known as the Dar-Es-Salaam Declaration) and signed the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region on 15 December 2006 (modified in 2012), under the auspices of the United Nations and the African Union.
These two instruments address some dimensions of statelessness, like paragraph 68 of the Dar-Es-Salaam Declaration in which States commit to “adopt a common regional approach for the ratification and implementation of the UN Conventions on Statelessness, harmonize national laws and standards, and provide refugees and displaced persons with identification documents enabling them to have access to basic services and exercise their rights. The Declaration on Peace, Security, Democracy and Development, whose crowning achievement is the entry into force of the Pact on Security, Stability and Development in June 2008, is a historic instrument and a milestone in the fight against statelessness in the Great Lakes Region. The Declaration was adopted during the first summit of Heads of States and Governments in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania from 19–20 November 2004 under the auspices of the United Nations and the African Union.
In the spirit of the Dar-Es-Salaam Declaration, the August 2006 ICGLR Regional Programme of Action on Humanitarian and Social Issues, entitled “Framework for Durable Solutions to Humanitarian, Social and Environmental Issues in the Great Lakes Region” translates the commitments of Heads of States and Governments into concrete actions in the areas of human rights protection and human security. It sets out support measures the ICGLR and UNHCR can provide to Member States, in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 68 of the Dar-Es-Salaam Declaration and point 4.1.1 of the Regional Programme of Action on Humanitarian and Social Issues relating to the respect of international and regional instruments on human rights, international humanitarian law, and the issuance of identity documents to internally displaced persons, refugees and stateless persons. It includes measures which the ICGLR will adopt in order to ensure follow-up for requests issued by Member States and national implementation monitoring mechanisms at the level of each Member State.
Strategic objective 1: To ensure compliance with relevant legal, policy and institutional frameworks for eradicating statelessness
Strategic objective 2: Strengthening data management systems for effective response to the challenges of statelessness
Strategic objective 3: Establish strategic and operational monitoring and follow up mechanisms
Strategic objective 4: Guarantee access to proof of legal identity, including birth certificates and nationality documentation
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Consolidated action plan as formally adopted by the Regional Inter-Ministerial Committee meeting of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) held in Brazzaville on 7 November 2020.
Download:
English: ICGLR Consolidated Action Plan 2020
French: CIGRL Plan dAction Consolidé 2020
Portuguese: CIRGL Plano de Acção Consolidado 2020
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Original plan of action (2017-19):
ICGLR regional action plan (English)
CIRGL Plan d’Action regional (francais)
CIRGL Plano de accao (portugues)
Extended plan of action, 2017-24, adopted at the ICGLR Ministerial Conference on the Eradication of Statelessness in the Great Lakes Region, Nairobi, April 2019:
Extended Regional Action Plan (English)
Extended Regional Action Plan (French)