International Statelessness Conference in the CIS region

Statelessness, affecting at least 10 million people worldwide with over half a million in Europe and some 6,000 in Belarus [1], occurs due to many factors: State succession, gaps in nationality legislation and administrative practices, migration and etc.

In 2014, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees launched a Global Campaign to End Statelessness within 10 Years – #IBelong Campaign. It is grounded in a Global Action Plan, which provides a blueprint of 10 actions that need to be undertaken to resolve existing situations and prevent new cases of statelessness from arising.

In order to assess the issue of statelessness in Belarus, as well as in the Member States of the Commonwealth of the Independent States in more depth, UNHCR is organizing the “International Statelessness Conference in the CIS region” in partnership with the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Belarus and Executive Committee of the Commonwealth of the Independent States, which will be held in Minsk on December 4-5^th, 2018.

Objectives of the Conference:

• provide a common understanding of the statelessness situation in Belarus and in the CIS countries, in relation to the size of stateless population, causes and consequence(s) of this phenomenon;
• exchange best practices and experience from other European States;
• foster development of the most appropriate approaches and/or strategies in the field of identification, prevention and reduction of statelessness;
• identify areas requiring more targeted support from UNHCR and other organizations to develop and implement responses;

The conference will bring together:

• High-level government officials from the Presidential Administration, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Healthcare, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection;
• Representatives of the judiciary, the General Prosecutor’s Office; members of the lower and upper chambers of the Parliament;
• Representatives of academia and the National Centre of Legislation and Legal Research under the Presidential Administration;
• Representatives of the UN sister-agencies, as well as regional organizations such as the CIS, the EU, the Council of Europe;
• International experts.

[1] According to statistics of the Department on Citizenship and Migration of the Ministry of Interior of Belarus as of 01.01.2018

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