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A World Council of Churches Executive Committee statement urges an end to statelessness so that people will no longer live in a situation of legal limbo.
“Children constitute over a third of the global stateless population, and in the countries with the 20 largest stateless populations, approximately 70,000 stateless children are born each year,” reads the statement. “Risks of statelessness are often increased in the context of forced displacement and migration.”
The statement expresses concern over an increase in ethno-nationalist, racist and xenophobic narratives and policies globally. “History has shown that at several times and in several places states have used access to citizenship and deprivation of nationality as a discriminatory tool to oppress entire communities based on their descent, colour, ethnicity or religion.”
Not enough is being done to eliminate this threat to human rights and dignity, the statement observes.
