Mini-Course on Statelessness for ‘Count Us In!’ Project Consortium Partners

Date: December 13 and 14, 2021

NFA with support from the Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness organized a two-day online course on statelessness for the Consortium partners of the ‘Count Us In!’ project on December 13 and 14, 2021. The event was attended by the team members from Human Rights Working Group (HRWG), SUAKA and Women Peace Makers. On the first day, Professor Michelle Foster presented on the basic concepts and international legal framework on statelessness. On the second day, Christoph Sperfeldt spoke about the specific statelessness challenges in the Eastasian region.

 

A blog piece on NFA’s journey and transition from SNAP

Date: December 2, 2021

European Network on Statelessness (ENS) published a blog piece on NFA’s transition from SNAP written by NFA’s Executive Director, Subin Mulmi on December 2, 2021. The blog provides a brief overview of SNAP’s work and why and how SNAP decided to transition to NFA. To read more, please visit this page.

 

Kicking off the CESF Partnership Building Project

Date: December 1, 2022

After joining the CESF Consortium, NFA had applied for the Action award from the Consortium. NFA received the award and began a new project from December 1, 2022 to June 30, 2022. The project is titled ‘Actioning the Roadmap of the CESF Impact Report in the Asia Pacific region’. The project aims to build on the findings of the CESF Report or the ‘Together We Can’: The COVID-19 Impact on Stateless People and Roadmap for Change report (2021) that proposes a 3-step roadmap for relevant stakeholders including the CESF Consortium members. 

NFA has been engaging in consultations with CESF Consortium members of the Asia Pacific region to identify areas and issues where NFA can provide them with support. During the consultations the organizations have expressed the need for more resources, technical support and guidance to contextualize the Roadmap and prepare a concrete action plan to implement them. The Partners also shared certain immediate needs that must be addressed for them to be able to focus on long-term planning and activities. The need for a greater understanding of the specific contextualized impacts of COVID-19 on the region has also been identified. The project aims to support CESF Consortium members in the four Asia Pacific countries to contextualize the Roadmap and implement the calls to action specified in the Report.

 

NFA becomes a member of the GCENR Steering Committee

Date: November 10, 2021

NFA has joined the Steering Committee of the Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights. The Global Campaign for Equal Nationality Rights mobilizes action to end gender discrimination in nationality laws. Launched in June 2014, the Campaign has a focus on the 25 countries that retain provisions in their nationality laws that prevent women from conferring their nationality on their children on an equal basis with men; and achieving law reform in the 50+ states which retain provisions in their nationality laws that discriminate against women in their ability to acquire, change, and retain their nationality, and to confer nationality on non-national spouses.

The Campaign Steering Committee (SC) already consists of Equal Rights Trust, Equality Now, the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Women’s Learning Partnership, and Women’s Refugee Commission. The Campaign’s coalition includes over 20 national, regional, and international NGOs, individual activists, and UN partners, including UN Women and UNICEF. The Global Campaign is an Advisory Committee member of the UNHCR-UNICEF led Coalition on Every Child’s Right to a Nationality. 

To achieve the Campaign’s objectives, activities are focused on three key areas:

  • International Advocacy
  • National Advocacy
  • Resource Development, Knowledge Sharing & Capacity Building

NFA is honored to be a part of the Steering Committee and commits to supporting the great work of GCENR to end gender discriminatory nationality laws.

 

Participation in the Regional Forum of CSOs on CRVS in Asia Pacific

Date: October 20, 2021

World Vision, UNESCAP, Child Rights Coalition Asia, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Data for Health Initiative and Vital Strategies organized the Regional Forum of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Asia and the Pacific on October 20, 2021. The event was a preparatory event the second Ministerial conference on CRVS in the Asia and the Pacific.

NFA’s Executive Director, Subin Mulmi participated in the panel discussion on CRVS and CSOs. He spoke about the legal gap in the definition of ‘legal identity’ and the importance of legal identity in addressing statelessness. He also highlighted the importance of having a human rights approach in CRVS and the importance of the role of CSOs. Speaking further about the role of CSOs, he focused on the existing power imbalances between the different stakeholders and the need to have a bottom-up and participatory approach where persons without documentation are meaningfully consulted while designing CRVS programs, and that being the main role of CSOs.