UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency applauds Haiti’s landmark decisions to join international agreements to counter statelessness, a situation faced by millions of people deprived of basic rights because they are not considered as nationals by any State.

“We applaud Haiti for taking this big step and choosing to offer hope for a brighter future to people who will now have access to basic rights that most of us take for granted,” Volker Türk, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, said.

Haiti’s decision to accede to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness was marked formally at an event in New York on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly on Friday (28 September).

Statelessness can occur for several reasons, including discrimination against particular ethnic or religious groups, or on the basis of gender; the emergence of new States, transfers of territory between existing States and gaps in nationality laws. Whatever the cause, statelessness has serious consequences for people in almost every country and in all regions of the world.

IH/ iciHaiti