Janjic pointed out that this jubilee, 70 years since the adoption of the Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons, reminds us of the fact that in the years after the Second World War, respect for human rights was imperatively emphasised at a global level, so that every person had their place in society, with all the rights and obligations associated with human dignity. He reminded that the aforementioned Convention is based on the fact that both the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights establish the principle that all human beings, without distinction, should enjoy human rights and basic freedoms.

"A person without citizenship does not have state protection, and other, much deeper consequences can result from this status, such as lacking freedom of movement, acquiring and owning property, lacking education and opportunities for appropriate medical care, legal employment, legal marriage, et cetera. These persons face discrimination and are unable to actively participate in social life," said Janjic.

He added that by signing the Convention, the Republic of Serbia laid the foundation for its further activities to eradicate statelessness. Serbia has, both through the legal system and in practice, shown commitment to solving the problem of persons without documents and those at risk of statelessness, Janjic said.

"In cooperation with UNHCR and civil society, Serbia has implemented a series of concrete activities to help exercise the right to personal documents that some of our fellow citizens lack. With a determined intention to overcome these problems, especially registration in the birth register, confirmation of citizenship and registration of residence, the relevant regulations and harmonised practice of the state bodies were changed, in order to implement the legal changes in a proper and efficient manner. The problem of statelessness is not such that it can be solved once and for all, it is a problem for which there is a constant risk of reappearing," Janjic pointed out.

Despite the great effort of UNHCR and all partners to solve the problem of statelessness, there are currently more than 4.4 million people in the world facing this problem, concluded Janjic and thanked everyone in our country for their dedicated work on the humane task of eradicating statelessness.

The Conference "70 years of the Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons and 10 years of the I belong campaign - What we have achieved and what the future brings", focused on the progress in the field of eradicating the risk of statelessness and future activities in solving this problem in our country, was co-organised by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and UNHCR.