News

In a significant step to end statelessness on its territory, Turkmenistan has granted citizenship to 2,580 people, following issuance of a Presidential Decree on the subject this month.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes the Government of Kenya’s decision to grant citizenship to 1,670 stateless Shona and 1,300 stateless persons of Rwandan descent who qualify under the law as Kenyan citizens. “This is a life-changing development for thousands of...

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s move to give nationality to thousands of children born to Iranian mothers and non-Iranian fathers. According to the Government of Iran, nearly 75,000 children at risk of becoming...

11 Nov. 2020 - COVID-19 is worsening the plight of millions of stateless people worldwide, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned today.  Marking the sixth anniversary of UNHCR’s #IBelong Campaign, aimed at ending statelessness by 2024, Grandi called...

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes a decision by the Dominican Republic to allow the naturalization of around 750 people born and raised in the country who were previously deprived of citizenship due to the immigration status of their parents.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes Côte d’Ivoire’s adoption this week of Africa’s first Statelessness Determination Procedure. This will help protect thousands of people in the country who are without a nationality.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes a new law in Turkmenistan which will help ensure that all children born in the country will have their births registered. The Law on Civil Status Acts, which entered in to force in July, will help prevent new cases of...

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes a new statelessness law in Ukraine which came into effect this week. The law will give thousands of people who lack a nationality a chance to work legally, study and access healthcare among other rights and opportunities, and...

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is urging Governments worldwide to pay urgent attention to the plight of millions of stateless people and to follow a set of recommendations the organization has issued today to ensure their coverage in the COVID-19 response.

In the face of the COVID-19 crisis, we are all vulnerable. The virus has shown that it does not discriminate – but many refugees, those forcibly displaced, the stateless and migrants are at heightened risk.

An estimated 50,000 stateless people in Uzbekistan are set to acquire citizenship following the passing of a new law in the country.

Five years since the adoption of the Abidjan Declaration on the Eradication of Statelessness by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency is lauding progress and urging a redoubling of efforts. This is to ensure everyone in the region has a nationality and benefits from the rights of citizenship.