STATELESSNESS

16th Online Course on Statelessness in English

7 – 30 October  2025, Online

Live sessions of the Course will be held from 10.00 am to 12.00 pm, Rome time.  Please, click here to check your time zone.

© UNHCR/Ying Hu

The Course responds to the need of increased knowledge and capacity to prevent, reduce and resolve statelessness and to protect stateless persons worldwide. The curriculum of the Course ranges from the adoption of the Statelessness international conventions and development of national legislation to the work with stateless persons in the field. Besides the international legal framework related to nationality, the Course’s sessions analyse the causes and impacts of statelessness, the overview of stateless populations around the world, including stateless children, and the interrelation between statelessness and forced displacement. The training also aims at promoting the use and the implementation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Global Action Plan to End Statelessness as part of the #IBelong Campaign and sharing good practices resulting from this Campaign.

Overall objectives
  • Increase participants’ ability to deal with the phenomenon of statelessness.
  • Encourage the sharing of good practices among participants on how to reduce and prevent statelessness and protect stateless persons.
  • Promote the use and the implementation of UNHCR’s Global Action Plan to End Statelessness as part of the #IBelong Campaign.
  • Encourage governments to accede to the Statelessness Conventions, establish or improve safeguards against statelessness in nationality laws, and remove discrimination from nationality laws.
Target audience

The Course is developed primarily to benefit senior and mid-level government officials involved in the formulation and application of legislation and policies affecting stateless persons. Members of the civil society and the academia who could positively influence the safeguard of stateless peoples’ rights and advocate for their protection are also welcomed as participants. It is important for participants to have a very good knowledge of the language of the Course, in order to be able to consult background materials, attend lessons, and participate in group works and discussions (no simultaneous translation is available).

Methodology

The Online Course is structured into four weeks, with the objective to provide an in-depth analysis of the subject of the training, including cross-cutting issues.

Weeks are composed of up to three live sessions and self-paced sessions.

  • Live sessions are pre-scheduled and usually last 120 minutes. These are delivered via Zoom for Education;
  • Self-paced sessions are completed at participants’ own pace and must be undertaken before the beginning of each following class. These usually consist in pre-recorded videos, short questionnaires or assignments, and/or selected reference materials.

The Course strikes a balance between theory and practice and is delivered through a participatory and creative teaching methodology, aimed at facilitating the learning process and implementing the knowledge gained throughout the training. Sessions include lectures, presentations, case studies, group work, audio-visual support, and other activities, which respond to the various learning styles of a diversified audience.

Throughout the training, participants and expert facilitators are able to share best practices and experiences regarding the main topics and issues of the Course.

The Sessions will be delivered by experts working in the field of statelessness, members of academia, or persons with lived experience from around the world.

REGISTRATION FORM

Registration starting soon

Registration deadline: 10 September 2025

PROGRAMME

Queries on the course registration and administrative questions should be directed at admission.unit@iihl.org.

Duration:
4 weeks
Language:
English
Registration fee:
€ 750
End of course:
Official certificate

Participation quota amounts to € 750. It must be remitted before the start of the Course by bank transfer. Visa and/or Mastercard are also accepted on the website of the Institute.

A limited number of scholarships is available for the Online Course and cannot therefore be guaranteed purely by application. Scholarships will depend upon funds available to the Institute thanks to the kind contribution of our donors. To apply for a scholarship, you must detail so in the dedicated field in the Registration Form.

The course will be conducted in English and reasonable language proficiency is required. There will not be simultaneous translation.

The official Certificate will be awarded only to those who attend the Course in full, including participation in live and self-paced sessions, and completion of assignments.