Refugees and Our World with 10 Actions To Be Taken to End Statelessness by Zeynep AŞKIN

Hi everyone,

it is my utmost pleasure to give some basic information about refugees and our world. Currently; our world is getting worse because of some reasons; which are terrorism, refugee crises, financial crises and so on. Especially; refugee crises influence people’s life, sociocultural occasions, the economy in a short our world. We, as the human was created to think and live within peace with together; in order to reach our main purpose, UNHCR has a responsibility that cannot be matched with any other organization since it is related to the significant topic of refugees and statelessness. Before I have started to explain the aims and the project of UNHCR; I would like to emphasize the differences between refugees and statelessness.

A refugee is someone who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence. A refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Most likely, they cannot return home or are afraid to do so. War and ethnic, tribal and religious violence are leading causes of refugees fleeing their countries.

A stateless person is someone who is not a citizen of any country. Citizenship is the legal bond between a government and an individual and allows for certain political, economic, social and other rights of the individual, as well as the responsibilities of both government and citizen. A person can become stateless due to a variety of reasons, including sovereign, legal, technical or administrative decisions or oversights. People can be considered stateless as a result of many factors, one of the most well-known factors is the dissolution of a state.

What is the role of UNHCR?

Consequently; UNHCR carries out different legal procedure and ways to cope with refugees and statelessness. Firstly and cardinally; UNHCR’s initial task was to help millions of uprooted peoples mainly in Europe- in the aftermath of World War 2, and to seek permanent solutions for them. The Convention obliged states not to expel or forcibly return an asylum-seeker or a stateless to a territory where he or she faced persecution. This was surely an important development, but the bulk of the Convention was, and remains, devoted to setting out the access to rights and standards governing the treatment of those recognized as refugees so that they could resume normal lives.

To sum up; protection responsibilities have remained at the core of UNHCR’s work over the years. These include continuing efforts to promote and extend the international legal framework, to improve protection standards, to seek durable solutions and many other activities designed to ensure the safety and well-being of refugees. In a short; there are lots of projects and plans to take precautions and prohibit for refugees, asylum- seekers and statelessness; but one of them is so crucial and substantial for our world. It is ‘’Global Action Plan to End Statelessness.’’

Global Action Plan to End Statelessness

The Global Action Plan to End Statelessness: 2014 – 2024 (Global Action Plan), developed in consultation with States, civil society and international organisations, set out a guiding framework made up of 10 Actions that need to be taken to end statelessness within 10 years. Provided that there is adequate leadership and effective implementation of the Global Action Plan, statelessness can be ended within a decade. The Global Action Plan includes Actions to; resolve existing situations of statelessness, prevent new cases of statelessness from emerging and better identify and protect stateless persons.

10 Actions To Be Taken to End Statelessness

The Global Action Plan outlines 10 goals meant to be adopted by member states in order to end statelessness. It is important to be updated on what these 10 actions are as well as the goals associated with the actions themselves. The 10 actions outlined in the Action Plan are as follows:

1) Resolve existing major situations of statelessness this means that all non-refugee issues of stateless should be solved;

2) Ensure that no child is born stateless meaning that through a set of laws and regulations there will be no more new cases of children being born stateless;

3) Remove Gender Discrimination meaning that states will develop laws in order to treat men and women equally in regards to nationality;

4) Prevent Denial, loss or deprivation of nationality on discriminatory grounds meaning states will no longer have laws that allow for the loss of nationality;

5) Prevent statelessness in cases of state succession meaning that there will be no new cases of statelessness emerging as a result of state succession;

6) Grant protection to stateless migrants and facilitate their naturalization meaning that s States will identify will be able to identify stateless migrants;

7) Ensure birth registration for the prevention of statelessness;

8) Issue nationality documentation to those with entitlement to it means that there will be no new cases of statelessness resulting in a failure of birth registration;

9) Accede to the UN stateless conventions meaning that member states will accept the already in place conventions of statelessness;

10) Improve quantitative and qualitative data on stateless populations. Although there are 10 actions outlined within the global action plan states are encourage to take at least on two of the actions in order to end statelessness by 2024.

In conclusion;

the implementing the global action plan to end statelessness is the most crucial topic in our world. Moreover; the Member States can implement their policy of the statelessness cooperating with a social institution, foundations and civilians. In addition; in order to move up the statelessness in the world; being aware of the importance of equality and how it can be promoted.

Everyone has different rights and we have to respect them so curriculum planning about statelessness’ education, health care and right to life. Please note that; I have taken some basic information from UNHCR’s website but in order to give the main points of the topic; I drow up this document. I hope you enjoyed reading this article. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Zeynep AŞKIN

The Writer of MunTurkey.com