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Belize joins Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness

By on August 21, 2015
End Statelessness

End Statelessness

San Ignacio town, Cayo. Friday, August 21, 2015. Belize has become only the second country in the Caribbean – Jamaica was first in 2013 – to join the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

According to the office of the United Nations Commissioner for Refugees, (UNHCR), “at least 10 million people worldwide are currently stateless,” meaning they have no nationality.

Belize is being hailed by the UNHCR for signing on to the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which is expected to come into force in Belize on November 12, 2015.

According to Regional Representative of UNHCR Shelly Pitterman “this decision, along with reactivating its Refugee Eligibility Committee earlier this year, are excellent signs that Belize is emerging as a regional champion on international protection.”

Last November, the UNHCR launched a global campaign to eradicate statelessness.

A decade-long plan – 2014 to 2024 – was drafted with inputs from governments, civil society and international organizations designed ot put an end to the global incidence of statelessness.

In a statement from the UNHCR, the director of the organization’s America’s Bureau Renata Dubini says that the “UNHCR hopes to see the Americas as the first continent to end statelessness and Belize’s accession is a step in the right direction.”

The UNHCR release says that in December 2014, 28 countries and three territories in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Belize, adopted the Brazil Declaration and Plan of Action. Chapter six of the Brazil Plan of Action identifies the actions required to eradicate statelessness in the Americas, including accession, as appropriate, to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

“We look forward to continuing to work with Belize to implement the Brazil Plan of Action and find regional solutions to statelessness and other protection challenges facing the Caribbean,” added Pitterman.

The 1961 Convention, which with Belize will have 64 states parties, provides concrete and detailed safeguards that states parties must implement through their nationality legislation to prevent and reduce statelessness.

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