UN warns: 12 million stateless people denied rights and protections

(Aug. 31, 2011) At least 12 million people are stateless - without any citizenship or fundamental human rights, according to recent report released by the United Nations. It is now calling on member states to sign the two conventions dedicated to people, who do not belong to any state. The UN warns that the problem is on the increase because of the many children born to parents who are stateless persons. Thus the children too are denied the principle of citizenship and other rights that are the prerogative of children around the world. The report said the phenomenon is particularly widespread in Southeast and Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe. Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHRC), said that these people are in desperate need of help because they live in a legal nightmare. Due to their condition, stateless persons are faced with a series of problems. They are denied the right to private property; they cannot open a bank account, or register a marriage or the birth of a child. Some of them are subjected to long periods of detention, because they can not prove their identity, or where they come from. Among the nations with the greatest number of people without citizenship are: Estonia, Iraq, Kenya, Myanmar, Nepal, Syria and Thailand. To date, only 66 countries have signed the UN Convention of 1954, which guarantees minimum rights in the treatment of stateless persons, but only 38, however, recognize the 1961 Convention, which gives them a wider range of legal protection. However, in recent months, Croatia, Panama, the Philippines and Turkmenistan have signed at least one of the two Conventions.