UNHCR welcome's Malta's accession to convention on stateless persons

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has welcomed Malta’s decision to join global efforts to end statelessness by 2024 by acceding to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons on 11 December 2019.

“This is a commendable step in protecting stateless persons and eradicating statelessness worldwide,” said Pascale Moreau, UNHCR Director of the Bureau for Europe.

A stateless person is someone who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law. Statelessness affects millions of people around the world, often denying them access to basic rights and official recognition that most people take for granted.

Some 3.9 million stateless people appear in the reporting of 78 countries, but UNHCR estimates the actual total to be significantly higher.

Malta’s accession to the 1954 Statelessness Convention follows the Government’s announcement made at the recent High-Level Segment on Statelessness, in which a total of 358 pledges were delivered by governments, civil society and international and regional organizations, among them 252 by States. In Europe, Malta and other countries announced 40 commitments towards the goal of ending statelessness.

UNHCR convened the High-Level Segment on Statelessness on 7 October 2019 to mark the midpoint of its ten year #IBelong campaign, which was launched in 2014 to eradicate statelessness by 2024.