Updated

Uzbekistan ends plight of thousands of stateless people with landmark law

   By Emma Batha
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   LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Uzbekistan is to allow tens of
   thousands of stateless people to become citizens under a new law hailed
   by the United Nations, which urged other countries to follow suit in
   ending the plight of some of the world’s most invisible people.
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   agency (UNHCR) said on Thursday.

   The Central Asian country has more than 97,000 stateless people - one
   of the largest stateless populations in the world.

   Globally, an estimated 10 to 15 million people are not recognised as
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   The UNHCR launched an ambitious campaign called #Ibelong in 2014 to end
   statelessness in a decade. Hollywood star Cate Blanchett threw her
   weight behind the drive last year.

   Experts on statelessness say xenophobia and populism are complicating
   efforts to meet the 2024 deadline, and there has been little progress
   on finding solutions for big stateless populations like the Rohingya in
   Myanmar and Bangladesh.

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   Kyrgyzstan made history last year when it became the first country in
   the world to end statelessness.

   In Tajikistan, an amnesty introduced this year will allow thousands of
   stateless people to obtain residence permits, providing a potential
   route to citizenship in three years.

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   2024 deadline.

   Stateless people often say they feel heavily stigmatised and forgotten.
   Even buying a SIM card, getting a driving licence, opening a bank
   account or getting married can be impossible.

   Mantoo said acquiring a nationality was “a life-changing experience”
   for a stateless person.

   “It affects everything from their legal status to their physical and