Forum on Minorities Panel event: Statelessness resulting from conflicts, forced population movements and migration affecting minorities: main challenges and possible solutions 29 November, 14:30-18:00 Room XVII Remarks by Ms. Shahrzad Tadjbakhsh, Deputy Director, Division of International Protection  UNHCR is the UN Agency mandated by the General Assembly to prevent and reduce statelessness and to identify and protect stateless persons. Highlight that in November 2014, UNHCR launched the #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness in 10 Years. Explain that the thematic focus of the Campaign for the past 2 years has been on stateless minorities. In 2017, UNHCR published a Campaign report based on discussions with stateless and formerly stateless persons around the world.  What unites the theme of statelessness as a potential consequence of conflict, forced displacement and migration is that all three phenomena often have the effect of uprooting a person from the place where they were born, or have lived most of their lives and placing them in a situation where they become ‘outsiders,’ or at least perceived as such.  For those who belong to minority groups, this ‘outsider’ status can be reinforced because of the faith they may follow, the language they may speak, the customs they may follow, or the colour of their skin.  Uprooting, caused by conflict, forced displacement and migration can also result in family separation, loss of identity documentation and prolonged exile from the place of origin. All of these impacts can make it more difficult for people to demonstrate the links (such as proof of parentage or place of birth) that might give them an entitlement to, or proof of entitlement to, a nationality.  Discriminatory attitudes and policies towards minorities can not only exacerbate the negative treatment they receive because of their inability to prove or establish their nationality, but can also make it much harder for them to access to remedies that might be available to those who do not belong to minority groups.  Conflict: Statelessness can result when minorities are targeted for denationalisation as part of a conflict. Children left orphaned or separated from their families by conflict may not be able to establish their parental ties or place of origin and risk being left stateless. Destruction of or lack of access to civil registration systems can also leave minorities vulnerable to risks of statelessness.  Forced Displacement: Minorities in situations of forced displacement are particularly vulnerable to risks of statelessness as they are particularly susceptible to being displaced without adequate proof of their nationality (because of discrimination both in their countries of nationality/ origin and by the host State). This lack of documentation can also create problems at the post-conflict stage, when minorities try to return to their countries of nationality/ origin but find it difficult to prove their entitlement to nationality.