Conference on Ensuring Everyone’s Right to Nationality: The role of parliaments in preventing and ending statelessness
Published: 27/Nov/2015
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union
The conference noted with concern that statelessness is a serious human rights issue that currently affects at least 10 million people globally. Given the remarkable fact that a stateless child is born every 10 minutes and that statelessness is widely understood to have a devastating human impact, it was acknowledged that the scourge of statelessness has not received the attention it deserves. In this regard the particular vulnerability of women and children to the risk of statelessness was noted, as was the increased risk of statelessness related to the dramatic increase in forced displacement resulting from armed conflict and other reasons. Members of Parliament called for more concerted efforts to address the root causes of statelessness, including more coordinated diplomacy to help prevent and resolve armed conflict that leads to forced displacement; more regional initiatives aimed at resolving and preventing statelessness; reviews of nationality legislation; and more sharing of best practices among States. A number of Members of Parliament called for a parliamentary alliance of champions committed to resolving statelessness and facilitating implementation of the Plan of Action outlined below.
Download report of conference from IPU website.