Joint Statement: Ensuring UN System Inclusion of Stateless Applicants
ICMC Europe has joined 104 organisations in a joint statement calling on every United Nations agency to allow stateless people to apply for its jobs.
The statement, led by Apatride Network, the stateless-led organisation whose advocacy secured the original reform at UNHCR, asks UN agencies to introduce a 'stateless/undefined' category in their nationality fields, bring internal procedures into line so those applications can be processed, and recognise stateless persons as applicants and potential colleagues. Signatories describe it as "a legal and moral obligation", and one that can be met at minimal cost.
What changed at UNHCR
In August 2024, UNHCR became the first UN agency where a stateless person could apply for a job. The change was twofold: a "Stateless" option was added to the nationality dropdown, and the agency's Human Resources and Legal departments aligned their procedures so that the resulting applications could actually be processed. It followed direct and sustained advocacy by Apatride Network.
The signatories are clear that this was more than a technical fix. It recognised that stateless persons exist, that they hold the same right to equal opportunity as anyone else, and that their expertise and lived experience are essential to the UN's own statelessness mandate.
Why the statement now
Two years on, the reform has not travelled. UNHCR is mandated to address statelessness, and its step remains the exception rather than the standard across the UN system, an inconsistency the signatories say the organisation cannot sustain while championing inclusion and the commitment to "leave no one behind".
Their case rests on three points: stateless persons are entitled to the same rights as everyone else, including equality of opportunity in employment; the UN's credibility depends on consistency between its values and its own systems; and the solution is already proven, since the UNHCR model created no new complications and can be replicated across the system with minimal cost or delay.
Who has signed
The 104 signatories span stateless-led and refugee-led organisations, legal clinics, national refugee councils and international networks, among them the European Network on Statelessness, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights, among others.