On Tuesday 13 June, the European Parliament called upon the European Union and its member states to do more to resolve the situation of stateless persons, particularly in South and South-East Asia.
The report by Amjad Bashir on statelessness in South and South-East Asia, which was adopted by 571 votes to 24 with 54 abstentions, recommends that the member states include among their priorities support for positive developments in tackling statelessness in these areas, for instance through greater cooperation with the third countries concerned. The EU should more forcefully stress the major impact of statelessness on global issues such as eradicating poverty, illegal migration and the trafficking in human beings, the MEPs add.
They also call on the countries concerned to take concrete measures to resolve the problem of statelessness and to ban the refusal, loss or stripping of nationality for discriminatory reasons, to adopt fair laws on nationality and to set in place accessible, affordable and non-discriminatory procedures to obtain nationality.
The report highlights the situation of the Rohingya community in Myanmar, calling on the authorities to grant this minority Myanmar citizenship once again. Furthermore, urgent measures are needed to prevent further acts of discrimination, hostility and violence against minorities or incitement to such acts. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)