United Nations

Draft Resolution 1.X

The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees

Agenda: The Right to a Nationality: In the Question of the Stateless People

Sponsors: Argentine Republic, The French Republic, The United States of America
Signatories: The Kingdom of Sweden, The Republic of Lebanon, The Kingdom of Norway,
People's Republic of Bangladesh, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, The Republic of
Colombia, The Kingdom of the Netherlands, Republic of Uganda, The Kingdom of Thailand,
Republic of Ireland, Islamic Republic of Iran, Dominion of Canada, Federative Republic of
Brazil, Republic of Greece, Republic of Turkey, Republic of the Philippines, Republic of
Italy

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,

Recalling Article 1 Section 3 of the Charter of the United Nations which indicates that one of
the main purposes of the UN is “to achieve international co-operation in solving international
problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and
encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without
distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion”,

Fully aware of Article 15 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights which states that
every person has a right to a nationality,

Reaffirming the provisions provided by the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of
Stateless Persons as well as the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness,

Guided by UNHCR’s #IBelong Campaign which aims to end statelessness by 2024 through
the 10 points outlined in the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness,

Noting with deep concern the growing amount of unidentified stateless people around the
world, sometimes amounting to large stateless populations, without basic human rights such
as the denial of basic education, healthcare, employment, and restriction of freedom of
movement,

Acknowledging the lack of consistent statistical data on the number of stateless people
worldwide due to the absence of proper data collection and mapping procedures,
Having examined the issues behind and caused by the two main drivers of statelessness,
namely crises brought about by conflict, state succession, and natural disasters, and
discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and age,

Deeply alarmed by the human rights violations, including human trafficking, physical
violence, and sexual abuse that are a by-product of the status of stateless people, and

Taking into consideration the 2015 Report of the Secretary-General on Childhood

Statelessness which calls upon states to prevent statelessness at birth through incorporating
statelessness prevention policies in domestic law and the local implementation of such laws,

Hereby resolves,

Article 1
ESTABLISHMENT OF A FRAMEWORK FOR ERADICATING STATELESSNESS
BY 2024

1. Pushes for the authorization and urgent implementation of the 2024 and Beyond
Initiative with the details as follows:
a. The 2024 and Beyond Initiative outlines action plans that will be implemented
in each of the Member States based on the 10 points of the #IBelong campaign
and complements the campaign’s goals;
b. The actionable timeline is divided into two:
i. Pre-2024, which includes directives designed to reduce, prevent, and
eventually eradicate statelessness, and
ii. Post-2024, which includes programs that will help previously stateless
nationals assimilate into their respective states;
c. The Pre-2024 phase has four areas of operation, namely Identification,
Reduction, Prevention, and Elimination:
i. Identification strategies work primarily on the data collection and
mapping of stateless individuals and populations to give context for
further programs to be implemented in the other phases;
ii. Reduction programs focus on those that aid and protect stateless people
in their process of nationalization, as well as the establishment of
nationalization procedures and awareness raising programs on such
procedures;
iii. Prevention actions advocate for legislative changes in national policies
to prevent statelessness; and
iv. Elimination solutions work around guidelines for different crises to
ensure that statelessness is fully eradicated after 2024;
d. The Post-2024 phase is centered around providing new nationals resources to
help ease them into their respective societies.
2. Affirms the role of the UNHCR as the overseeing body for all programs under the
2024 and Beyond Initiative;
3. Calls upon the following bodies to cooperate with UNHCR as key actors in the
implementation of the programs under UNHCR’s 2024 and Beyond Program, with
responsibilities to be enumerated in each specific program:
a. National governments of Member States,
b. Government bodies,
c. Private companies,
d. Multinational corporations,
e. Non-government organizations,
f. Volunteers, and
g. Other United Nations organizations;

Article 2
BUILDING INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION WITH MEMBER AND
NON-MEMBER STATES

1. Invites non-members of the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless

Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness to accede to the
Conventions;
2. Urges the said non-members to revise and ratify domestic and national legislation to
adopt the provisions of these Conventions;
3. Commends the Member States of both Conventions on statelessness who have
implemented the provisions of the Conventions in their respective countries;

Article 3
ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL AND LOCAL REGIONAL
UNHCR STATELESS CENTERS

1. Strongly supports the formation of National and Regional UNHCR Statelessness

Centers in all consenting states with the following functions:
a. National UNHCR Statelessness Centers
i. Coordinate with national governments for implementation of UNHCR
programs and mandates,
ii. Oversee the implementation of the 2024 and Beyond program in the
regional centers,
iii. Act as the link between UNHCR and local bodies, and
iv. Accumulate and allocate funds for programs to be implemented by the
Regional UNHCR centers;
b. Regional UNHCR Statelessness Centers
i. Facilitate nationalization procedures,
ii. Act as a stateless persons’ resource center,
iii. Hold statelessness awareness campaigns in their respective
communities;
2. Calls for the creation of the Statelessness Termination and Awareness Taskforce or
STAT to run the Statelessness Centers, with members from the following groups:
 a. NGOs,
b. Civil servants,
c. Non-profit charity organizations, and
d. Volunteers;
3. Proclaims August 30th as the International Day of Action for Stateless People to
promote mass awareness on the issue;
4. Emphasizes the potential of social media as a platform for awareness, action, and
change on statelessness, and recommends the following to be shared:
a. Social media hashtag trends regarding statelessness and refugees, with the
hashtags leading to related posts about the issue, to be done yearly during the
International Day of Action for Stateless People;
b. Infographics about statelessness and refugees, mainly focusing on the
following:
i. How a stateless person can acquire nationality or citizenship
ii. When is the right time to acquire nationality or citizenship?
iii. Where should stateless persons acquire nationality or citizenship?
iv. Whom should the stateless people approach to acquire nationality or
citizenship?
v. What are the nearby agencies or offices associated with statelessness
and refugees?

5. Requests for collaboration with the United Nations Office for Project Services to help
construct the Regional UNHCR Statelessness Centers, with three main departments:
a. Nationalization Office, which specializes in assisting stateless people in the
process of achieving nationalization for free,
b. Stateless Resource Center, which offers free need-based resources to stateless
people in the process of nationalization, such as:
i. Healthcare,
ii. Legal assistance,
iii. Technical support,
iv. Basic education, and
v. Counseling for abuse victims;
c. Campaign Committee, which organizes the following:
i. Seminars and symposiums that aim to provide more knowledge and
information to its audience regarding stateless people and refugees,
ii. Community programs and forums that focus on community
participation in recognizing the stateless, and
iii. Information sessions in the local language or dialect that enlighten
stateless people on their status, as well as the nationalization
procedures that can be done through the regional Nationalization
Office,
iv. The Summit for Solving Statelessness, which would gather the leaders
of countries as well as statelessness specialists from UNHCR and
special guest speakers to coordinate actions to prevent statelessness;
 Article 4
ADVOCATING FOR LEGISLATIVE CHANGES IN NATIONAL POLICIES

1. Implores Member States to create local policies to identify stateless persons in their
territory pursuant to the UNHCR Handbook on Protection of Stateless Persons
released in 2014 following the provisions of the 1954 Convention Relating to the
Status of Stateless Persons;
2. Further invites countries to implement dedicated stateless determination procedures
into their legislative mechanism as well as:
a. Make them accessible and understandable by translating them into several
languages;
b. Ensure the efficiency and the trustworthiness of those procedures by
cooperating with the UNHCR and local, regional and international
humanitarian organizations;
3. Supports States that will review their domestic policies and are willing to collaborate
further to ensure that the rights of stateless people are not violated in any way;
4. Encourages countries to introduce special travel permits for stateless people to not
restrict their freedom of movement as well as provide them with another form of
documentation;
5. Endorses Member States that ensure that their legislature advocates for the rights of
stateless people and gives them access to fundamental human needs;
6. Urges governments to set up mobile legal clinics to raise awareness about the
registration and resolution of stateless cases and provide legal support at low or no
cost;

Article 5
IMPROVING AND IMPLEMENTING STATISTICAL PROGRAMS AND DATA
MAPPING ON STATELESS PEOPLE

1. Calls for the adoption of national demographic data collection procedures for
systematic identification of stateless people, and in the process promote the collection
of socio-economic data on stateless persons through national surveys;
2. Implores countries to provide information and communication technology (ICT)
equipment needed to identify and count the number of stateless people in countries in
the state of stateless humanitarian crises;
3. Urges to implement a Stateless Census using the identification procedures established
for stateless people in order to provide context on the said issue, with the
specifications that follow:
a. National Governments, UNHCR, and NGOs shall be partners in conducting
statistical analyses on the local populations of stateless individuals, as well as
stateless refugees in the territory;
b. The gathered data shall be mapped to identify problem areas in the state;
4. Expresses its hope for financial support for countries with economic needs, to
accomplish their census of stateless people, via the raising of funds by every state
participating in the resolution.
a. The economic contributions made by every nation will be proportional to their
Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and redistributed according to the nations
necessities, in relation to their possibilities of executing the Census.

Article 6
TARGETING AREAS OF STATELESSNESS-CAUSING DISCRIMINATION

1. Strongly condemns all ethnic or racial discrimination against stateless persons.

2. Invites all delegations, to follow the these procedures, with the purpose of ending both
racial and ethnic discrimination caused by individuals being stateless. Said
procedures, will be divided into 2 main areas of discrimination, ordered by severity
a. Moderate discrimination. This is defined as psychological or verbal
discrimination of any kind, which could indirectly take away the rights to the
individuals or groups affected. For this type, it is proposed:
i. Creation of diverse social programs, mainly focused on the elimination
of xenophobia, and on how this phenomenon relates to statelessness
b. Severe discrimination. This is defined as physical abuse by individuals, as
well as the active removal of human rights by governmental institutions. Both
circumstances are direct vulnerations to stateless people's rights.
i. Regarding the violations of human rights by governments, for the
governments that do so, the delegations are denouncing them to the
Security Council, for them to take the nescesary sanctions.
ii. On the matter of physical abuse against stateless individuals, it's highly
encouraged for countries to create national programs which cooperate
with the coordinated efforts between countries to prevent violations of
the rights of stateless people.
3. Denounces the human rights violations caused by statelessness specifically on
children and women, such as lack of access to education and meaningful employment;
4. Urges governments to prioritize the elimination of discrimination in nationality laws
to promote access to education and labor among stateless individuals, especially those
who are most vulnerable, including children and women;
5. Encourages governments to provide stateless women with protection from all kinds of
abuse they might face, by providing them with adequate shelter and covering all their
basic needs;
6. Initiates collaboration with UNICEF and UN Women to create separate
comprehensive action plans that supplement the 2024 and Beyond program, which
will include the following:
a. Use of UNHCR Statelessness Centers as refuge for stateless women and
children who are victims of physical and sexual abuse,
b. Education of stateless women and children on how to better protect
themselves from crimes like human trafficking and child prostitution,
 c. Collaboration with NGOs to protect against these human rights violations,
d. Creation of a Stateless People Protection Police that can help in emergencies,
and
e. Data mapping of potential hazard zones for stateless people that prevent them
from being vulnerable to human rights violations;
f. Collaboration on a national campaign with UN women agencies to help bring
more awareness on the gender discrimination issue in stateless women;

Article 7
CRISIS PLANS

1. Strongly advises host countries of stateless individuals to accept proof of identity

other than national identity cards, such as but not limited to: expired travel
documents, to allow the stateless to safely access health care, including vaccination,
in pandemic, epidemic, and disease outbreak areas.
2. Recommends the enhancement of data collection on persons displaced by disaster and
climate change, the expansion of the regional “refugee” definition to cover persons
displaced by disaster and climate change, and the integration of disaster displacement
in disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategies as well as climate change adaptation
strategies;

Article 8
NATIONALIZATION AND RELOCATION PROCEDURES

1. Recommends various nationality pathways that can be adopted by countries to

prevent statelessness, as follows:
a. Limited dual citizenship, where a child can temporarily have two nationalities
until the child turns 18 years old, and afterwards elect to be one of the two
nationalities,
b. Jus soli over jus sanguinis, where place of birth is prioritized over nationality
of parents (may be implemented in countries that discriminate against women
passing their nationality to their children or for children born to stateless
parents),
c. Jus sanguinis over jus soli, where the nationality of parents is prioritized over
place of birth (may be implemented in case of state succession where states
are dissolved)
d. Residency, where after a specified time period, people who have been residing
in the territory will be granted residential rights, if not full nationality, or
e. Birthright nationality, where until other nationalities supersede, the child’s
citizenship shall be determined by the place they were born in.
2. Authorizes the creation of informational channels for dependable information as the
foundation for a comprehensive advanced indicator and assessment system that
promotes refugee security by ensuring that the proper aid measures are deployed at
the right moment;
3. Reinforces national law enforcement mechanisms which includes both regional and
international military forces to protect the interests of refugee host countries,
including:
a. monitoring,
b. intelligence gathering,
c. situation assessment,
d. disarmament and demobilization of combatants,
e. border control, and
f. further training of national military forces

Article 9
SOURCES OF FUNDING

1. Encourages the creation of an official 2024 and Beyond fund regulated by the
UNHCR, sourcing funds from:
a. Voluntary contributions from Member States for Reduction programs
(including the formation of the UNHCR Stateless Centers),
b. A portion of the United Nations general budget, to be approved by the General
Assembly Fifth Committee for Identification programs,
c. UNHCR’s general budget for Reduction programs,
d. International Monetary Fund in Crisis programs, and
e. World Bank for relocation programs for stateless refugees from Category 6
states into Category 1 states;
2. Recommends a yearly evaluation and report on the use and allocation of this fund to
ensure transparency;

Article 10
POST-2024 ACTIONS

1. Suggests that the stateless refugee centers be transformed into livelihood and learning
centers for newly-nationalized citizens;
2. Invites members of the United Nations Economic and Social Council to collaborate in
the implementation of the following programs to aid previously stateless nationals
assimilate into their respective societies:
a. Productive spaces for the employability of new citizens as they become
integrated into the labor force through public-private partnerships,
b. Training, workshops, apprenticeship programs, and vocational courses to be
primarily offered to new nationals,
c. Sustainable community-based livelihood programs to guarantee access to
decent work and social inclusion.
3. Calls upon countries to help stateless people with employment as it would also be
beneficial for the economy of that country, and to further support stateless people by:
a. Easing the process of nationalization for those employed for 2-3 years;
b. Allowing them to exercise any profession of their choice;
 Article 11
PROGRAM EVALUATION

1. Establishes transparent feedback mechanisms to commit to valuable and efficient

improvement of existing procedures through UNHCR Stateless Person hotlines,
email, or in-person platforms through the Regional UNHCR Stateless Centers;
2. Requests the Secretary-General to release a global report on the effectiveness of the
2024 and Beyond Program in eradicating statelessness as a reference for future UN
actions on the issue.