GENEVA, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi warned on Monday here that recent advances in the battle to end statelessness were being imperiled by nationalism and anti-refugee sentiment.
Speaking ahead of the opening of UN refugee agency's annual Executive Committee meeting on Monday, Grandi said that "damaging forms of nationalism, and the manipulation of anti-refugee and migrant sentiment -- these are powerful currents internationally that risk putting progress into reverse."
The UN refugee agency chief said that solutions are urgently needed for millions without citizenship or at risk of statelessness around the world, and a redoubling of efforts has become crucially needed.
In 2014, the UN refugee agency launched a global "#IBelong" Campaign aimed at ending statelessness by 2024.
According to UN, in the first five years of the Campaign, more than 220,000 stateless people have acquired a nationality.
