UNHCR Calls for Increased Efforts Against Statelessness in Austria

PeopleOther ♦ Published: June 3, 2024; 22:32 ♦ (Vindobona)

Ten years after the UN Refugee Agency's (UNHCR) #IBelong campaign launched, which aimed to end statelessness by 2024, an estimated ten million people worldwide still live without citizenship. The UNHCR also sees a considerable need for action in Austria.

Despite the Universal Declaration of Human Rights guaranteeing everyone the right to a nationality, several million people worldwide remain stateless, including an estimated 20,000 in Austria. / Picture: © BMI Bundesministerium für Inneres / Alexander Tuma

According to Ruth Schöffl, spokesperson for UNHCR Austria, discrimination is the most common cause of statelessness. In an interview with the ORF magazine “Heimat Fremde Heimat”, she explained: “It usually affects entire ethnic groups. The saddest example is the Rohingya in Myanmar, who have…