Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has asked the Federal Government to adopt the national action plan to end statelessness in the country.
This was even as the UNHCR urges states to end the limbo for stateless people by 2024.
The Commissioner, Filippo Grandi, and the Representative in Nigeria, Chansa Kapaya, made the call in commemoration of the sixth anniversary of UNHCR’s #IBelong campaign aimed at ending statelessness by 2024.
Grandi said COVID-19 is worsening the plight of millions of stateless people worldwide, calling on world leaders to include and protect stateless populations and make bold and swift moves to eradicate statelessness.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown more than ever the need for inclusion and the urgency to resolve statelessness. A pandemic doesn’t discriminate between citizens and non-citizens. It is not in any state’s, society’s or community’s interest for people to be left stateless and living on the margins of society.
“We must redouble efforts to resolve this affront to humanity in the 21st century,” Grandi said.
The UNHCR further said that lacking important legal rights and often unable to access essential services, many stateless people were politically and economically marginalized, discriminated against and vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
UNHCR also said in many countries, stateless people, including stateless refugees, live in sub-standard and inadequate sanitary conditions which can increase the risk of disease.