The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) welcomes Togo’s decision to intensify its efforts against statelessness.
Togo is the latest country to join the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, contributing to the global fight against statelessness.
“By depositing the instruments of accession to the two conventions on 14 July, Togo has demonstrated its political will to address the root causes of statelessness, as well as its support for UNHCR’s #Jexiste campaign to end statelessness by 2024,” UNHCR said in a statement shared with APA.
Our source said that this decision comes as the international community celebrates the 60th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and UNHCR is increasing its advocacy efforts on this matter.
“I congratulate Togo on its accession to the two UN conventions on statelessness,” says UNHCR High Commissioner for Refugees, Philipo Grandi, adding: “This step proves its firm commitment to improving the plight of stateless persons on its territory and to helping eliminate statelessness worldwide.
UNHCR stresses that Togo’s membership is part of a powerful drive to combat statelessness in West Africa, which has 1.6 million stateless people or people of undetermined nationality.
Togo and many other States in the region had already adopted the Abidjan Declaration of the Heads of State of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) against statelessness in West Africa in 2015, as well as the Banjul Plan of Action of 2017.
TE/fss/abj/APA