Article

Stateless, With Borders All Around
By: Seth Mydans
Published by: The New York Times
April 8, 2007

NationalityforAll.org

The International Observatory on Statelessness was created in March 2007 as a collaborative project between Oxford Brookes University and the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford to: collate national data on patterns, types and conditions of statelessness to further knowledge; promote research on patterns and causes of statelessness by means of gathering data on the state of nationality and citizenship legislation, systems of protection, and factors that contribute to the problem of statelessness; and act as a clearinghouse for NGOs, academics, advocacy groups and policy-makers working on issues of statelessness. (Description from www.nationalityforall.org)

www.soros.org/indepth/stateless

The Open Society Foundations are working on the problem of statelessness in a number of ways: documenting the plight of stateless people through official reports and documentary photography; partnering with local advocates to bring lawsuits challenging citizenship discrimination; and advocating for change in international bodies such as the United Nations, the African Union, and the U.S. State Department. Finally, the Open Society Foundations try to amplify the voice of stateless people by providing a platform from which they can share their stories. (Description from www.soros.org/indepth/stateless/what_you_can_do.html)

www.refugeesinternational.org/what-we-do/statelessness

Refugees International advocates for lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced people and promotes solutions to displacement crises.

Challenge
Refugee crises left unattended threaten stability around the world. There are 41.2 million refugees and internally displaced people and 12 million stateless people living in limbo without citizenship rights. People forced from their homes by conflict are among the world’s most vulnerable and they all have individual stories of loss, heartache and survival.

Impact
Timely responses to refugee crises can increase stability in a region before the conflict spreads across borders. Due to our efforts, abandoned refugees receive food, medicine and education; displaced families return home; peacekeepers are sent to protect displaced people from harm; and stateless people obtain legal status.

(Description from www.refugeesinternational.org/who-we-are)

Publication

Nationality Rights for All: A progress report and global survey on statelessness
By: Katherine Southwick, J.D. and M. Lynch, Ph.D.
Published by: Refugees International
March 2009

Publication

Stateless and Vulnerable to Human Trafficking in Thailand
Published by: Vital Voices Global Partnership
June 2007

www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c155.html

Through a series of resolutions beginning in 1994, the UN General Assembly gave UNHCR the formal mandate to prevent and reduce statelessness around the world, as well as to protect the rights of stateless people. Twenty years earlier, the Assembly had asked UNHCR to provide assistance to individuals under the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

UNHCR's governing Executive Committee provided guidance on how to implement this mandate in a "Conclusion on the Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and the Protection of Stateless Persons" issued in 2006. This requires the agency to work with governments, other UN agencies and civil society to address the problem. UNHCR activities in the field are grouped into four categories.

Identification: Gather information on statelessness, its scope, causes and consequences
Prevention: Address the causes of statelessness and promote accession to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness
Reduction: Support legislative changes and improvements to procedures to allow stateless people to acquire a nationality and help individuals take advantage of these changes
Protection: Intervene to help stateless people to exercise their rights and promote accession to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.

(Description from www.unhcr.org/pages/49c3646c16a.html)

Publication

The Excluded
Published by: United Nations Refugees Agency (UNHCR)
2007

Article
www.un.org/events/tenstories/07/theexcluded.shtml

10 Stories the World Should Hear More About - The Excluded: The Hidden World of the Stateless

Article
www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2010/0704/Locked-out-The-12-million-people-without-a-country-and-the-need-to-become-a-citizen

Locked Out: The 12 Million People Without a Country, and the Need to Become a Citizen
By. Stephanie Hanes
Published by: The Christian Science Monitor
July 4, 2010