UN campaign helps over 500,000 stateless people gain nationality, but challenges remain

The United Nations announced on Friday that more than 565,900 stateless people have gained nationality in the decade since it launched the #IBelong campaign. The campaign, initiated in 2014 by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), sought to resolve the problem of statelessness, a condition affecting millions worldwide.

Statelessness occurs when individuals are not recognized as citizens by any country, leaving them politically and economically marginalized, unable to access essential services, and vulnerable to exploitation. The UNHCR has described it as a severe human rights violation.

The agency’s latest report marks significant progress since the campaign’s inception, although it stresses that millions more remain stateless. In 2022, the UNHCR recorded 4.4 million stateless individuals across 96 countries, but it noted that the true number is likely much higher since the data does not cover the entire globe.

While celebrating the progress, UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said, “Our work is not yet done.” The campaign aimed to address what he called “a largely invisible crisis,” where millions live without nationality, unable to assert basic human rights.

UNHCR also emphasized significant efforts in countries such as Kyrgyzstan, which has resolved all known cases of statelessness, and other nations including Turkmenistan, Thailand, and Portugal, which have made strides in addressing the issue.

Seventy-seven more countries have joined UN conventions on statelessness, and 22 have created national action plans to resolve the crisis.

While the #IBelong campaign is ending, UNHCR said that it will launch a “Global Alliance to end Statelessness” and continue its efforts to secure nationality for millions worldwide, confirming that a high-level meeting will be held next week in Geneva to address the ongoing challenge.