OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities signs landmark agreement with United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

GENEVA, 23 June 2023 – The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Kairat Abdrakhmanov, and the Assistant High Commissioner for Protection at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Gillian Triggs, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to reinforce the long-standing co-operation between their respective institutions under common areas of mandated responsibilities. This includes, in particular, the interface between the protection of displaced and stateless persons and the role of the HCNM as an instrument of conflict prevention at the earliest possible stage in regard to tensions involving national minorities.

Addressing and preventing statelessness among persons belonging to national minorities, including the Roma, has been in focus of the OSCE High Commissioner’s consultations with a number of OSCE participating States. In particular, the OSCE High Commissioner emphasized the importance of ensuring that no child is born stateless. This is necessary to ensure that all children in society can access their fundamental rights and feel a sense of belonging. He, therefore, encouraged all participating States to enhance their birth registration procedures, particularly in relation to those communities with an increased risk of statelessness.

“My Institution continues to emphasize the importance of preventing statelessness among national minorities in the OSCE region. This is an important factor in conflict prevention. I therefore look forward to continuing to support the participating States in their efforts to both prevent and address statelessness as this is an area which requires systemic attention,” said Abdrakhmanov.

Assistant High Commissioner for Protection at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, Gillian Triggs reiterated the importance of the Memorandum.  “We appreciate the efforts of the OSCE to address statelessness, which to this date remains one of the most pressing human rights violations in the world, and which often disproportionately affects minorities. In fact, the majority of the world’s known stateless populations belong to minority groups. We look forward to our strengthened partnership with the OSCE, working together in pursuit of our mutual objectives to prevent and resolve statelessness, and to foster more inclusive and cohesive societies where nobody is left behind.”

High Commissioner Abdrakhmanov expressed his deep appreciation for the co-operation with the UNHCR and especially for the insightful and constructive discussions during his visit to Geneva. “I am thankful for our productive work together on a number of cross-cutting issues such as statelessness which will benefit societies as a whole throughout the OSCE region, and look forward to enhancing this co-operation. The day-to-day challenges of displaced people can also add to tensions in society, which is relevant to my conflict prevention mandate. This is an area in which our institutions could work more closely together in the future.”