UNHCR welcomes Iceland’s decision to join global efforts to end statelessness

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes Iceland’s accession to the United Nations Statelessness Conventions, key international treaties to counter statelessness.

“We welcome Iceland’s accession, which brings the world one step closer towards ending statelessness,” said Pascale Moreau, UNHCR Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe.

Europe is home to more than 500,000 stateless people.  The total number of stateless people globally remains unknown. UNHCR reports on some 4.2 million stateless people in 79 countries in the world based on available data, but the actual figure is believed to be much higher.

Iceland acceded to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness on 26 January; both will enter into force in the country on 26 April 2021. Iceland’s accession follows a number of significant steps the country has undertaken in the past years to align the national legislation with both conventions with regards to preventing, identifying, and reducing statelessness and protecting stateless persons.

Iceland’s accession to the 1954 and 1961 treaties brings the total number of State parties to these instruments to 95 and 76, respectively.

As this year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1961 Convention, UNHCR hopes that more countries will follow Iceland’s example and accede to the UN Statelessness Conventions this year.

In 2014, UNHCR, launched the global #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024. Since then, 12 States have acceded to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and 15 have acceded to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.