Mr László Felkai, State Secretary of Ministry of Interior and Mr Gottfried Köfner, UNHCR’s Regional Representative for Central Europe opened a joint exhibition about the world’s stateless people entitled “Nowhere People – Hazátlanul” which will be held on 16-31 May 2012 in the Palace of Arts (MÜPA).

Stateless person shall mean any person who does not hold a nationality and is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law. Situation of stateless people settled through international legislation is high on the UNO agenda since the establishment of the organization. This issue has not been satisfactorily resolved yet and is one of the main challenges of the international community. In 2011 was the 50th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

About 12 million people around the world do not have citizenship of any country. Stateless people are often unable to enjoy a wide range of rights and are prevented from fully participating in society, their rights are not fully respected - they are unable to work legally, travel freely and have prevented access to education and health care.

Hungary earned a prominent place in the international humanitarian community thanks to its accession to the international conventions relating to the protection of stateless people and to the good practices. Hungary ratified the 1954 and 1961 Conventions on Statelessness. Our country has a world quality reference national procedure for the recognition of stateless people which is a best practice in Europe.

(kormany.hu)