Global Alliance to End Statelessness

Make your mark.

Join our new Global Alliance to End Statelessness

To be stateless, is to be denied a nationality. Officially, it’s almost as if you don’t exist. Millions of people are affected around the world, with serious impacts on their ability to enjoy even the most basic rights. However, statelessness is absolutely solvable… forever, for everyone. But change simply isn’t happening fast enough.

This is why we are calling on you to join with us, a diverse group of stakeholders – a Global Alliance to End Statelessness. Together we can catalyse and accelerate change. Because everyone deserves to enjoy the right to a nationality without discrimination.

Sign up now! The official launch of the Global Alliance took place on 14 October 2024 in Geneva at the High-Level Segment on Statelessness, on day one of UNHCR ExCom.

We need coordinated and collaborative action.

That’s why we are looking to bring together people with the energy, talent and power to make a difference. Convening stakeholders from right across the world in a spirit of openness, equality, and collaboration.

Introduction

We need to act with bold pragmatism.

That’s why we are capacitating members with tools for focused and effective collaboration. So we can unite as a collective – listening to and learning from one another, exchanging ideas, and joining the dots in exciting and innovative new ways.

Knowledge Hub

We need to consign Statelessness to history.

We will not rest until this happens. Acting together to identify and respond to the gaps in laws, policies and practice that are creating new cases of statelessness and letting existing situations linger

Activities

Upcoming webinars


Knowledge Webinar 4: Addressing Gender Discrimination in Nationality Laws and Policies

2 December 2025 14:00-15:30 CEST

The fourth session, Addressing Discriminatory Nationality Laws and Policies, is organized by the respective Global Alliance Thematic Working Group and will take place on 2 December 2025, 14h00 – 15h30 CET. It will explore how gender-discriminatory nationality laws, policies or practices cause and perpetuate statelessness, and what can be done to combat them.


Navigating a Difficult Funding Landscape: New Approaches to Resource Mobilization for Ending Statelessness

Efforts to address statelessness operate within a highly challenging fundraising landscape, characterized by declining official development assistance from governments and multilateral agencies. At the same time, raising resources for statelessness remains difficult due to limited donor awareness and a lack of understanding of the broader human rights implications of the issue.  

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Global Alliance Webinar Highlights Practical Solutions to End Childhood Statelessness

The Global Alliance to End Statelessness held its second Knowledge Webinar on 13 November, focusing on “Solutions to End Childhood Statelessness.” Childhood statelessness remains one of the most pressing issue, widely recognized by Global Alliance members and stakeholders as requiring intensified action, with governments carrying a clear legal and moral obligation under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to ensure that every child acquires a nationality at birth or as early as possible.  

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Knowledge Webinar 4: Addressing Gender Discrimination in Nationality Laws and Policies

The Global Alliance to End Statelessness launched a Knowledge Webinar Series, designed to spotlight concrete actions, lessons learned, and collaborative solutions to end statelessness worldwide.

The fourth session, Addressing Discriminatory Nationality Laws and Policies, is organized by the respective Global Alliance Thematic Working Group and will take place on 2 December 2025, 14h00 – 15h30 CET. It will explore how gender-discriminatory nationality laws, policies or practices cause and perpetuate statelessness, and what can be done to combat them.

Registration & Meeting link
Please use the link below to register and receive the webinar link: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/466838bf-9b3c-4f65-8016-4c4021ca8b16@e5c37981-6664-4134-8a0c-6543d2af80be  

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4th Quarterly Meetings of the Global Alliance Thematic Working Groups

We are pleased to announce the upcoming 4th quarterly meetings of the three Thematic Working Groups (TWGs), which will take place virtually via Teams. These sessions will provide an opportunity for TWG members to engage in expert exchange and collaborative work in accordance with the 2025-2026 workplans.

Meeting Schedules:

Protecting the Rights of Stateless Persons: 9 December 2025, 10:00-11:30 (CET)
Addressing Discrimination in Nationality Laws & Policies: 10 December 2025, 14:00-15:30 (CET)
Ending Childhood Statelessness: 11 December 2025, 14:00-15:30 (CET)

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Co-Lead, Global Movement Against Statelessness
Christy Chitengu
One Year On: The Movement’s Journey Within the Global Alliance to End Statelessness

Proximity and privilege deeply shape whose voices are heard in the global struggle to end statelessness. For millions of stateless people, barriers such as geography, limited resources, and lack of access to documentation mean exclusion not only from their governments but also from the global humanitarian and advocacy spaces that claim to represent them. Meanwhile, those with passports and institutional power often move freely within international systems that remain inaccessible to the very people they aim to serve.


Jessica Schmieder
Project Manager, Apatride Network
Ensuring Vocational Inclusion for Stateless Individuals

Stateless individuals face daily obstacles in accessing basic services – whether opening a bank account, booking travel, or securing employment. One often overlooked but fundamental barrier is the absence of a “stateless” or “undefined” nationality option in digital forms and application systems. Without it, individuals are frequently forced to enter inaccurate information or abandon applications altogether. Employers, including legal and HR teams, are often unsure how to process applications from individuals without nationality, even when they have the legal right to work. This lack of clarity and inclusion in administrative systems contributes – often unintentionally – to vocational exclusion.

An encouraging step forward came in August 2024, when UNHCR became the first UN agency to update its recruitment platform to accommodate stateless applicants. This progress followed sustained engagement by the stateless-led organization Apatride Network, whose advocacy helped identify and address technical barriers in the application process, that previously prevented stateless people from applying. In collaboration with its legal and human resources teams, UNHCR resolved the dropdown menu issue and clarified internal procedures – creating a more inclusive and accessible path for stateless candidates.