ECOWAS urged to reduce homelessness and statelessness

ECOWAS urged to reduce homelessness and statelessness

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has urged West African states to take the first step in aid of the war against homelessness and statelessness, and create an environment that would make people less likely to become refugees.

These first steps, according to the Country Representative of the UNHCR for Nigeria, Goyo Hukportie, include ratification of the 1954 convention relating to the status of stateless persons, the 1961 convention on the reduction of statelessness and the African Union convention on the protection and assistance of internally displaced persons in Africa also known as the Kampala convention.

Hukportie spoke on Monday at the opening of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ambassador’s retreat in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

‘Victims of persecution’

The theme of this year’s retreat is “One stateless, forcibly displaced person without basic rights in the region is one too many.” Previous collaborative retreats were held in Jos in 2007 and Kaduna in 2009.

According to the latest UN data on displaced persons, more than 40 million people are displaced around the world and an estimated 12 million wake up every morning stateless, belonging to no country at all.

Hukportie lamented the unfortunate happening where “millions of people continue to be uprooted by wars or natural disasters, become victims of persecution because of race, tribe, religion, political opinion and others. Many are internally displaced persons and disempowered within their own countries of origin.”

Hukportie said: “At today’s retreat, the UNHCR is calling you, your excellences (ECOWAS’ member states’ ambassadors in Nigeria) as key stakeholders and partners to do one thing: advocate and encourage the signing and/or the ratification and effective implementation of these three conventions.”

NP/Adekusibe/Williams