11th Session, Geneva, 29 and 30 November 2018 Eleventh Session of the Forum on Minority Issues Statelessness: A Minority Issue Concept Note The Eleventh Session of the UN Forum on Minority Issues is convened on 29 and 30 November 2018 pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 6/15 of 28 September 2007 and resolution 19/23 of 23 March 2012. This year, the theme of the Forum is "Statelessness: A Minority Issue". A preparatory meeting for all participants will be organized on 28 November 2018. 1. Background Statelessness is a human rights issue disproportionately affecting minorities around the world. According to UNHCR, more than 75% of the world’s known stateless populations belong to minorities (as of 2017). Although there has been some uncertainty in the past as to the main factors resulting in millions of individuals being stateless, it has become clearer in recent years that discriminatory practices, arbitrary nationality requirements and other underlying human rights issues are at the core of the causes of statelessness, particularly when minorities are disproportionally affected. Statelessness can give rise to major difficulties in terms of accessing fundamental rights and freedoms. The promotion and protection of the human rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities offer useful means and framework to effectively understand and address the issue of statelessness. The 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons sets out a number of rights which stateless persons are entitled to, and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness provides a set of tools for eradicating statelessness. International human rights instruments and their respective provisions, such as those relating to the prohibition of discrimination and the right to a nationality, which have increasingly been invoked successfully in legal and administrative proceedings, complement the two treaties. This year also marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has, inter alia, affirmed the inherent human dignity and the core principle that human beings shall enjoy fundamental rights and freedoms without discrimination. 1