Why the Global Alliance and why is it important?
The Global Alliance is both a space and a communicative energy to bring forward our commitment for no statelessness anywhere in the world. The global landscape and statelessness are fundamentally needed now because it creates a platform, an initiative and an energy that works to finally end statelessness worldwide.
The community of the Global Alliance will be a workspace that is inspiring, that shines a light on how together we can work on a common human rights problem. And how a diversity of views from the people most affected, stateless people themselves, to experts, civil society organizations, to UN agencies, to governments can come together, discuss, think, examine good practice, and ultimately take the steps necessary to end statelessness.
From all those myriads of problems, this issue, statelessness, is a fundamentally fixable one. And so, we are confident that if we pull together and do the work and mobilize the resources, we can arrive at the year 2030 with every single person on earth carrying a nationality and participating fully in their own societies.
Claude Cahn
Human Rights Officer, UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR)
3 November 2025
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.
Read more18 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.
Read more22 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.
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