GENEVA – As the world marks the 75th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, at a time of record displacement and mounting pressure on asylum systems, 75 leading figures from across society have joined UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in launching The Promise, a global statement of solidarity with refugees.
Convened by UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Barham Salih, the initiative aims to build a global coalition in support of refugee protection at a time when the international system faces growing challenges. Through The Promise, signatories reaffirm the enduring principles of the Refugee Convention and the commitment to protect people fleeing conflict, violence and persecution.
Among the Initial 75 signatories are: actor-filmmakers Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie and Ben Stiller; Olympic champion and IOC President Kirsty Coventry; entrepreneurs Hamdi Ulukuya, Mo Ibrahim and Tadashi Yanai; Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Malala Yousafzai, Nadia Murad, and Dr Denis Mukwege and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, also of The Elders; and Sarah Mullaly, Archbishop of Canterbury. Their participation reflects broad support from across society for protecting the right to seek asylum and standing in solidarity with refugees.
“The Refugee Convention has saved millions of lives over the decades; it goes to the core of our shared humanity,” said Barham Salih, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. “Seventy-five years ago, the world made a promise to protect people forced to flee. Our responsibility now is to keep that promise alive, for all generations to come.”
More than 41 million refugees remain forcibly displaced worldwide. As old conflicts persist and new ones erupt, host countries carry immense responsibility, while asylum systems in many places are left stretched and under-resourced.
In The Promise, signatories affirm the commitment of the Refugee Convention: that people forced to flee war, violence and persecution must be able to seek safety and rebuild their lives. They call for a world where everyone can seek safety, refugees are included in communities, solutions to displacement begin from the earliest stages of every crisis, and all sections of society play their part. They pledge to choose “action, compassion and solidarity. Until everyone is safe.”
“The Refugee Convention provides governments with a practical framework for managing one of the most difficult challenges any state can face. By applying it effectively and working together, States can uphold the Convention in ways that protect those forced to flee while preserving security, stability and public confidence,” Salih added.
“The Convention is also about finding solutions, and that means all of us acting together at the early stages of displacement, so refugees are not left to languish. We must support host countries and communities, expand opportunities for refugees, and create the conditions for voluntary return and other lasting solutions.”
UNHCR will continue inviting individuals and organizations to endorse The Promise in the lead-up to the Global Refugee Forum in 2027.
After Sixty-five years since the conclusion of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling for renewed political commitment to ensure that everyone can enjoy the right to a nationality.
At least 4.5 million people worldwide are known to be stateless or of undetermined nationality. Millions more are affected but remain invisible in official data.
For them, statelessness is a daily reality that can stop life in its tracks and often traps generations into cycles of exclusion and uncertainty. It can mean being unable to obtain identity documents, go to school, access health care, or work legally. In many cases, it can prevent people from registering their child’s birth, marrying, owning property, opening a bank account or travelling freely.
The international legal frameworks evolved in response to this reality. The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons established protections for people who are already stateless. The 1961 Convention went further, creating safeguards to prevent statelessness from occurring in the first place, including measures to ensure that children are not born stateless and people do not lose their nationality if it renders them stateless.
Today, 82 States are party to the 1961 Convention, with Slovenia, South Sudan and Sao Tome and Principe among the most recent to join.
But legal commitments alone are not enough. UNHCR calls on States to translate commitments into results; protect stateless people and provide pathways to nationality, reform discriminatory nationality laws and practices creating new cases of stateless, accede to the UN Statelessness Conventions, and to join the Global Alliance to End Statelessness for collective action.
There is clear evidence that progress is possible. Since 2014, more than 650,000 stateless people have acquired or confirmed their nationality, while 94 countries have strengthened their nationality laws to help prevent statelessness.
Many countries achieved major breakthroughs. In 2019, Kyrgyzstan became the first country to resolve all known cases of statelessness in its territory, followed by Turkmenistan in 2024. Between 2021 and 2023, Kenya granted nationality to thousands of previously stateless people from the Makonde, Pemba and Shona minority groups. In 2025, North Macedonia was the first in the region to resolve all known cases of statelessness resulting from the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia.
In Thailand, over 120,000 stateless people have secured nationality or permanent residence through accelerated procedures put in place in 2025. Chile and the Philippines have recently updated their legislation to strengthen safeguards against childhood statelessness. In Syria, recent measures have opened a pathway to nationality for eligible members of Kurdish communities who faced decades of legal uncertainty.
Yet, the drivers of statelessness remain deeply entrenched, including discrimination in nationality laws and practices, gaps in nationality legislation and arbitrary deprivation of nationality. In 24 countries, women still cannot confer nationality on their children on an equal basis with men.
New challenges are also emerging. Climate change may increase risks of statelessness, in particular when people are displaced or documents are lost during disasters, and deepen vulnerabilities of those already stateless.
Stateless people are increasingly at the forefront of efforts to find solutions. Stateless-led organizations are advocating for legal reform, documenting barriers and helping shape policies that directly affect their communities. UNHCR works alongside these organizations, governments and partners, to prevent and resolve statelessness through legal and policy advice, support birth registration, and improved access to nationality procedures and documentation.
Statelessness is preventable and solvable. What is needed is political will to act. Sixty-five years after the promise of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, millions of people worldwide are still waiting for the most basic recognition of all: the right to a nationality. A right to belong.
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