Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 5 December (BelTA) - Belarus has made great progress in addressing the problem of statelessness, Carol Batchelor, UNHCR's Special Advisor on Statelessness, said following the international statelessness conference in the CIS region in Minsk, BelTA has learned.

In legal terms, the eradication of the problem of statelessness is, essentially, a matter of harmonizing the legislation in such a way as to guarantee that no child is born without a nationality, that every birth is duly registered and that any person who is stateless is proposed a solution. In a legal sense, it is relatively easy to do, but very often the problem of statelessness involves a number of other states. This is why it is very important to establish active cooperation between states. I would say that the Republic of Belarus has already achieved great progress in addressing the problem of statelessness, Carol Batchelor said.

Carol Bachelor gave her assessment of the steps taken in Belarus to eliminate statelessness. “Belarus has taken very positive steps. You have made efforts to identify stateless persons who reside on the territory of Belarus," she said. The UNHCR's special advisor also noted that the UNHCR has established cooperation with the local authorities on the issues of statelessness.

According to her, the choice of Minsk for the conference on statelessness in the CIS is the result of constructive cooperation with the Belarusian authorities. It is also important that the CIS headquarters are located in Minsk. “Belarus can unite members of the CIS to monitor what happens at the national level and the positive steps taken at the regional level. We strongly welcome the participation of regional organizations in the process,” Carol Batchelor added.

The international statelessness conference in the CIS region took place in Minsk on 4-5 December. It was organized by the representation of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Belarus, the Interior Ministry of Belarus and the CIS Executive Committee as part of the UNHCR campaign #IBelong. The main objectives of the conference was to analyze the situation with statelessness in Belarus and the CIS countries, share best practices with other European countries, foster the development of the most appropriate approaches and strategies aimed at identifying stateless persons and preventing new cases of statelessness.