Damaging forms of nationalism threaten recent progress in ending the plight of stateless people with no nationality, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a press conference on Monday
UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th October, 2019) Damaging forms of nationalism threaten recent progress in ending the plight of stateless people with no nationality, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in a press conference on Monday."Today, the prospect of ending statelessness entirely has never been closer," Grandi said. "And yet, the progress is far from assured: Damaging forms of nationalism and the manipulation of anti-refugee and migrant sentiment - these are powerful currents internationally that risk putting progress into reverse."
Grandi cited Myanmar's ethnic Rohingya Islamic minority, which are denied citizenship and Bengali Muslims in India's northeastern province of Assam, who were recently stripped of citizenship.
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) launched a campaign to end statelessness in 2014, resulting in more than 220,000 stateless people acquiring a nationality in several nations, including Kyrgyzstan, Kenya, Tajikistan and Thailand, the United Nations said in a press release.
In addition, the United Nations campaign persuaded Madagascar and Sierra Leone to change nationality laws so mothers can confer citizenship for their children on an equal footing with fathers, according to the release.
