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.
IntroductionWe 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 HubWe 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
ActivitiesPast webinars
Inter-Regional Network Lab: Leveraging Regional Approaches and the Role of Inter-governmental Organizations in addressing statelessness
20 May 2025 15:00-18:00 CEST
The first Global Alliance Inter-Regional Network Lab, “Regional Action, Global Impact: Leveraging Regional Approaches and the Role of Inter-Governmental Organizations in Addressing Statelessness,” was held online on 20 May 2025. Co-organized by UNHCR, the Organization of American States (OAS), the Council of Europe (CoE), and CLARCIEV, the half-day event provided a platform for exchange, peer learning, and cross-regional collaboration, spotlighting the critical role of IGOs in fostering inclusive, coordinated, and regionally grounded action to address statelessness.
2025 ECOSOC Youth Forum Side Event: “Mobilizing for Gender-Equal Nationality Laws”
16 April 2025 19:15-20:45 CEST
The inaugural meeting of the “Ending Childhood Statelessness” Thematic Working Group (TWG) was held on Thursday, 3 April, at 14:00-15:30 CET.
This open house session introduced the theme and work modalities of the TWG.
Stories & Interviews
12 June 2025
Global Alliance Inter-Regional Network Lab
The first Global Alliance Inter-Regional Network Lab, “Regional Action, Global Impact: Leveraging Regional Approaches and the Role of Inter-Governmental Organizations in Addressing Statelessness,” was held online on 20 May 2025. Co-organized by UNHCR, the Organization of American States (OAS), the Council of Europe (CoE), and CLARCIEV, the half-day event provided a platform for exchange, peer learning, and cross-regional collaboration, spotlighting the critical role of IGOs in fostering inclusive, coordinated, and regionally grounded action to address statelessness.
more3 June 2025
We Want to Hear from You – Complete the Global Alliance Communications Survey by 16 June
Following a recommendation from the first Advisory Committee meeting, the Secretariat has launched a short survey to improve the Global Alliance’s communications.
We kindly invite all members to complete the short online survey (which will take only 5–10 minutes) by 16 June.
18 June 2025
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.
22 October 2024
Ensuring the Resources to End Statelessness Together
The financial resourcing of statelessness research is one of the most challenging aspects of our work. Funders have heard of many other human right issues but, due to the often-unseen nature of statelessness, it remains an outlier. As a result, it is difficult for donors who are hearing about the issue for the first time to believe that such a problem can exist in the 21st century, let alone get to the point that they are convinced that this is an area that is worthy of their funding support.
As members of the Global Alliance to End Statelessness, we are committed to collaborative, coordinated action. This means helping ensure that we have the financial and other resources needed to catalyse and accelerate positive change. We believe that statelessness is solvable through a well-resourced whole-of-society approach.