Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) - Today, on 2 November 2021, the National Center of the Republic of Uzbekistan for Human Rights, together with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) for Central Asia, held an online lecture for law students at universities in Uzbekistan on statelessness issues. The lecture was organized to mark the 7th anniversary of the #I Belong campaign, as well as the 60th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

First Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Director of the National Center for Human Rights Academician Akmal Saidov and Deputy UNHCR Representative for Central Asia Dumitru Lipkanu addressed the students with a greeting.

The purpose of the lecture is to increase the level of students’ knowledge about the causes and consequences of statelessness, the situation of statelessness in the world, including in Central Asia, as well as familiarization with key international human rights documents related to statelessness, including the 1954 and 1961 UN Conventions on Statelessness.

In 2014, UNHCR launched the Global Campaign to End Statelessness within 10 Years (#I Belong Campaign). It is based on a global action plan, which contains 10 steps to take to resolve situations of statelessness and prevent the occurrence of new ones.

In 2019, a High-Level Segment on Statelessness was held with high-level representatives from around the world to assess the progress made in the first five years of the #IBelong campaign.

In the Republic of Uzbekistan, the situation in the field of eradicating statelessness has changed dramatically over the past 4 years, thanks to decisive measures to reduce statelessness, taken at the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev.

In line with the appeal of UN Secretary-General António Guterres to take decisive measures to reduce the number of persons with statelessness, in Uzbekistan, in the last year alone, about 56,751 people received citizenship of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Experts celebrated anniversaries that are widely celebrated this year. In particular, this year marks the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, which is one of two key international treaties specifically dedicated to addressing the problem of statelessness. Accession to the 1961 Convention demonstrates the government’s commitment to protecting the fundamental right to citizenship. Citizenship enables full participation in society by providing access to political rights and processes, legal employment, education and health care, property ownership and voting. Citizenship also provides an unrestricted human right to enter and reside in a country, among other rights.

The lecture was attended by students of law faculties of the University of World Economy and Diplomacy, Tashkent State Law University, the Academy of the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Samarkand State University, Namangan State University, Termez State University, Karakalpak State University. Berdakh, the Institute of State and Law of the Academy of Sciences and the University of Public Security of the Republic of Uzbekistan.