OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities calls for regional co-operation to prevent risk of statelessness

The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Knut Vollebaek, called for OSCE participating States to remain committed to tackling the risk of statelessness by addressing the lack of registration and civil documentation in South-Eastern Europe, speaking before the OSCE Permanent Council on 17 November 2011.

The High Commissioner highlighted the role of the recently adopted Zagreb Declaration on this issue. The Declaration was the result of a conference organized by the High Commissioner, in co-operation with the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees and the European Union on the provision of civil documentation and birth registration in South-Eastern Europe, hosted by Croatia in Zagreb on 26 and 27 October 2011.

The Declaration includes recommendations to remove obstacles to civil registration and documentation, particularly for vulnerable people and marginalized groups, such as Roma. It marks the beginning of a concerted, regional effort to identify and help people at risk of statelessness.

“A considerable number of people have been left in a legal limbo, where they are recognized only partially, or sometimes not at all, by the new States in which they live. Such groups could potentially become a factor for instability,” said Vollebaek.

Vollebaek thanked all the States in the region that have become part of this process and highlighted the importance of reviewing progress at the March 2012 meeting of the Roma Decade in Skopje.