ISI Database on Statelessness and
Human Rights

UNHCR High-Level Segment on Statelessness

The UNHCR report on the assessments made in the mapping of statelessness in Sweden has been examined in the Government Offices. In order to make improvements in our efforts to address statelessness we have initiated measures to ensure that challenges highlighted in the study will be addressed. In particular, the government has initiated a dialogue with the responsible national agencies to discuss registration of statelessness, nationality and “unknown” nationality. Through increased cooperation and consultation between the authorities our belief is that improvements will be made to limit the existing inconsistencies in registration. The government follows the progress made. [Year of Completion -]

The number of stateless persons being granted Swedish nationality has been increasing annually from 1 700 persons in 2014 to 5 600 persons in 2018. The past five years, more than 22 000 stateless persons have been granted Swedish nationality. Sweden is closely following the development of stateless persons in Sweden. [Y.o.C -]

Sweden has a pending government decision on establishing a government led Inquiry on Nationality. The inquiry will among other issues look at further measures to limit statelessness, including if certain children born stateless in Sweden could acquire nationality automatically at birth, instead of through the current simplified notification process. [Y.o.C 2021]

The Government of Sweden hereby commits: Withdrawing two reservations concerning the 1954 Convention – one relating to article 8 on exceptional measures and one on article 24.1b on labour legislation and social security, as well as the corresponding reservations in the 1951 Refugee Convention. [Y.o.C -]

UNHCR High-Level Segment on Statelessness

The Government of the Philippines hereby commits to enhance the policy, legal, and operational framework for stateless persons to ensure their full access to rights as guaranteed by the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons including their facilitated naturalization and as may be provided by national laws. (Year of Completion -)

The Government of the Philippines hereby commits to improve access of vulnerable and marginalized populations to documentation through birth and civil registration. (Y.o.C. -)

The Government of the Philippines hereby commits to continue the study of statelessness, with a thrust to improve qualitative and quantitative data on populations at risk of statelessness in the Philippines and among its nationals, in continuation of efforts initiated in 2011. (Y.o.C. -)

The Government of the Philippines hereby commits to continue the process of accession to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. (Y.o.C. -)

The Government of the Philippines hereby commits to continue leadership in Southeast Asia in the development of a human rights framework and provide technical support to other States in dealing with issues relating to stateless persons. (Y.o.C. -)

The Government of the Philippines hereby commits to cooperate with UNHCR by supporting projects, continuing fund contributions, and by building or expanding partnerships. (Y.o.C. -)

UNHCR High-Level Segment on Statelessness

The Government of the Republic of Cameroon hereby commits to finalize the process leading to Cameroon's accession to the United Nations Conventions on Statelessness and to deposit its instruments of accession to the said Conventions. [Year of Completion 2020]

The Government of the Republic of Cameroon hereby commits to incorporate a course on statelessness and citizenship in the curriculum of the Training Centre for Municipal Administration (TCMA). [Y.o.C. 2021]

The Government of the Republic of Cameroon hereby commits to conduct a qualitative study on the risks of statelessness by December 2020. [Y.o.C. 2020]

The Government of the Republic of Cameroon hereby commits to implement the Government decision of March 2019 on the regularization of the civil registry for persons living without birth certificates. The Minister in charge of Decentralization and Local Development has instructed municipal judges to take all measures deemed necessary to carry out a census of all persons without birth certificates in their units of command and to regularize the situation of such persons in conjunction with hospitals (certificate on apparent age) and courts of first instance (judgements in lieu of birth certificates). [Y.o.C. 2020]

UNHCR High-Level Segment on Statelessness

By 2022, the Central African Republic commits to simplify and facilitate access to the issuance of nationality documentation to returnees of Central African origin (former refugees) who have returned to Central African territory in the context of voluntary repatriation with the assistance of UNHCR and who do not or no longer have nationality documentation and are entitled to them. [Year of Completion 2022]

By 2020 and at the latest by the end of 2021, the Central African Republic, in collaboration with other regional actors such as the Commission for the Economic and Monetary Community of Central African (CEMAC) and UNHCR, commits to undertake and publish a study to better understand the situation of individuals and groups of stateless persons or at risk of statelessness living on its territory and/or subject to its jurisdiction, with a final aim to finding a solution to their situation. [Y.o.C. 2021]

By 2021, the Central African Republic hereby commits to improve access to birth registration procedures, including the late birth registration in order to ensure the registration of all births that have taken place on its territory and, in particular, to strengthen the institutional capacity of vital registration services in localities of return of returnees (former refugees) and internally displaced persons to ensure that all these persons who were born on the territory have a birth certificate. [Y.o.C. 2021]

By December 2019, the Central African Republic hereby commits to finalize and to adopt a national plan to eradicate statelessness in the Central African Republic by 2024. [Y.o.C. 2019]

By the end of 2021, the Central African Republic hereby commits to insert a provision into the Central African Nationality Code of 1961 subsequently amended providing for the conferral of Central African nationality at birth to children born on its territory who would otherwise be stateless. [Y.o.C. 2021]

The Central African Republic hereby commits to accede to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons by June 2020 at the latest, and to fully implement these provisions in its domestic legislation. [Y.o.C. 2020]

The Central African Republic hereby commits to accede to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness by June 2020 at the latest and to fully implement these provisions in its domestic legislation. [Y.o.C. 2020]

The Central African Republic hereby commits to reform the Nationality Code of 1961 subsequently amended in order to allow Central African men and women to transmit their nationality to their spouses on an equal footing by the end of 2021.

UNHCR High-Level Segment on Statelessness

The Government of the Republic of Chad hereby commits to include one or more questions in the next national population census to identify stateless persons living on the national territory (Related to Action 10 of the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness). [Year of Completion 2021]

The Government of the Republic of Chad hereby commits to adopt a national plan to combat statelessness. [Y.o.C 2020]

The Government of the Republic of Chad hereby commits to improve access to birth registration procedures, including late birth registration to guarantee universal birth registration. [Y.o.C. 2024]

The Government of the Republic of Chad hereby commits to contribute to a qualitative study under the lead of the African Union (AU), and the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) to gain a better understanding of the situation of individuals and groups of stateless persons living on its territory and in the subregion, with a view to finding a solution to their situation. [Y.o.C. 2024]

The Government of the Republic of Chad hereby commits to issue identity documents to all Chadian returnees with particular emphasis on returns from the Central African Republic and those from the Lake Chad Basin estimated at over 30,000 persons (Related to Action 8 of the Global Plan of Action to end Statelessness). [Y.o.C. 2021]

The Government of the Republic of Chad hereby commits to establish a statelessness determination procedure to grant protection status to stateless persons identified on its territory. [Y.o.C. 2020]

The Government of the Republic of Chad hereby commits to work with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to raise national awareness and foster a common understanding of statelessness over the next 5 years of the #IBelong Campaign to eradicate statelessness. [Y.o.C. 2024]

UNHCR High-Level Segment on Statelessness

The Government of the Union of the Comoros hereby commits to insert into the Nationality Act provisions for conferring Comorian nationality to children born in the Comoros who would be stateless and to children of unknown origin found in the country. There is no gender discrimination in the Comorian legislation with regard to the transmission of nationality. [Year of Completion 2022] 

The Government of the Union of the Comoros hereby commits to sign and ratify the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. [Y.o.C. 2021]

The Government of the Union of the Comoros hereby commits to conduct surveys to identify cases of statelessness. There are no officially known cases in the Comoros. [Y.o.C. 2020]

The Government of the Union of the Comoros hereby commits to simplify access to procedures for birth registration with the civil registry services, including for late birth registration. Raise awareness among mothers about the need to undertake birth registration for children born out of wedlock. Many children from underprivileged families do not yet have a birth certificate. [Y.o.C. 2020] 

The Government of the Union of the Comoros hereby commits to raise awareness among the population on the importance for every citizen to have a nationality certificate. [Y.o.C. 2021] 

The Government of the Union of the Comoros hereby commits to set up a national inter-ministerial commission (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of the Interior, National Assembly, etc.) to prevent and combat statelessness. [Y.o.C. 2020]

UNHCR High-Level Segment on Statelessness

The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo hereby commits to accede to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. [Year of Completion 2019]

The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo hereby commits to reform the system of civil registry and production of statistics on vital events, take initiatives such as identifying cases of statelessness and persons at risk of statelessness, institutionalize the collection of data on stateless persons and persons at risk, and prevent statelessness through the establishment of national mechanisms, including civil registration/ issuance of national identity documents. [Y.o.C. 2024]

The Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo hereby commits to bring its legal framework in line with the provisions of the abovementioned statelessness conventions and ensure compliance with the international standards and principles on nationality and the prevention of statelessness. [Y.o.C. 2021]

UNHCR High-Level Segment on Statelessness

The Government of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire hereby undertakes to adopt its National Action Plan for the Eradication of Statelessness to provide a more formal and structured implementing framework to the commitments. [Year of Completion 2019]

The Government of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire hereby commits to introduce into its nationality law a provision providing for the conferral of Ivorian nationality to children from unknown parents, stateless parents, who are born or found on its territory who would otherwise be stateless. [Y.o.C. 2022]

The Government of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire hereby commits to reform the provision of the nationality law providing that a woman, unlike a man, may only confer her nationality to her children if she is unmarried, divorced or widowed. [Y.o.C. 2021]

The Government of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire hereby commits to repeal the provision of its Nationality Law providing that the deprivation of the Ivorian nationality to a man may be extended to his spouse and minor children, regardless of their own responsibility for the commission of the offence punished. [Y.o.C. 2021]

The Government of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire hereby commits to validate the existing qualitative and quantitative studies with a view to deepening them in order to accurately identify the number of confirmed stateless persons and persons in the process of becoming stateless, living on its territory, with a view to understanding their situation and finding a definitive solution to their problem. [Y.o.C. 2020]

UNHCR High-Level Segment on Statelessness

The Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini hereby commits to undertake and publish a qualitative and quantitative study by 2021 to better understand the situation of groups and individuals who are stateless or at risk of statelessness in the territory with a view to finding a solution to their situation. 

The Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini hereby commits to establish by 2022 a procedure to determine the status of stateless migrants in line with the 1954 Convention. 

The Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini hereby commits to undertake national consultations on gender equality in nationality laws and initiating the necessary reforms to uphold citizens' equal ability to confer nationality on spouses and children by end of 2024. 

The Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini hereby commits to introducing a provision in our nationality law to grant nationality to all children of unknown origin found in our territory and those born in our territory who would otherwise be stateless by 2024. 

UNHCR High-Level Segment on Statelessness

By the year 2022, the Gambia commits to introduce a safeguard in its nationality law to grant nationality to children born on the territory including foundlings who would otherwise be stateless.

Consider legal reform regarding the nationality and citizenship provisions in the 1997 Constitution to facilitate naturalisation of refugees and stateless persons by 2020.

To include late birth registration into all health facilities, including outreach to Reproductive and Child Health Services across the country, by the end of 2020.

By the end of 2021, the Gambia commits to undertake and publish a qualitative study to better understand the situation of statelessness groups and individuals living in its territory with a view to finding a solution to their situation.