Statelessness in Australia & Kenya
In Australia, Kenya and Uganda, statelessness affects both migrants and refugees and people who have lived in the same place for generations. Despite the scale of the problem, most third countries and Africans Countries have no framework in place to effectively respond to statelessness and ensure that stateless people access their rights.
Our Moto
DEFENDING & PROMOTING THE RIGHTS OF STATELESS PEOPLE
IN Australia, Kenya & Uganda
Explore our work
Ending childhood statelessness
The Convention on the Rights of the Child obliges all European states to fulfil the right of every child to acquire a nationality. Yet, childhood statelessness persists. States are failing to take adequate steps to end childhood statelessness. For those affected, statelessness can mean problems accessing rights and services, denied opportunities, unfulfilled potential and a sense of never quite belonging. It brings hardship and anguish to children and their parents alike.
Ensuring nationality rights
Statelessness occurs for a variety of reasons – discrimination against minorities, state succession, conflicts of laws between states, or even deliberate policies by states to strip people of nationality. Statelessness pushes people to the margins of society and puts them at risk of discrimination and human rights abuses. It is essential that Australia, Kenya and Uganda recognises and addresses this issue by protecting everyone’s fundamental right to a nationality.
Preventing arbitrary detention
Research shows that stateless people face long periods of immigration detention. Locked in limbo, they are often deprived of their liberty simply because they have nowhere to go. Across Australia and african a failure by states to put in place effective systems to identify stateless people and grant them protection leaves thousands exposed to repeated and prolonged detention.
Protecting the rights of stateless people
Stateless people face the risk of rights violations every day, from destitution and denial of basic services to immigration detention. Many are separated from their families. The reason for this is that most Australia , Africans states have yet to put in place procedures to identify stateless people and provide them with a route out of limbo and the chance to rebuild their lives.
Working together with stateless people
Nobody understands the impact of living without a nationality better than stateless people themselves. Yet the experiences of stateless people are rarely acknowledged by decision makers in the debates that affect their lives.
Stateless refugees and migrants
Around the world, minorities are at particular risk of statelessness. In fact, two-thirds of the world’s stateless populations belong to minority groups. Across Australia, kenya, Uganda, many Roma still struggle to assert their nationality, while in the Baltic States hundreds of thousands of people from the ethnic Russian population remain stateless.
Your support helps us to protect the rights of stateless people
We are a small but ambitious charity with a strong track record of delivering impact. Every donation from our amazing supporters helps us protect the rights of stateless people in Europe. This work has never been more important.
What is statelessness?
A stateless person is someone who has no nationality. This can mean not having basic rights most people take for granted: to go to school or work, to get married or register the birth of your child, to ’legally exist’. As a result, many stateless people find themselves marginalised, at risk of discrimination and rights violations.
In Australia and all Africans countries have obligations under international law to protect stateless people and prevent statelessness, but in many cases, these have not been translated into effective law, policy, and practice at national level. As a result, people are still falling through the gaps and being left with no nationality. It is essential that Australia and all Africans countries recognises and addresses this issue if it is to uphold its traditions of freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, and respect for human rights.