Competition for students on statelessness

Category 1: Students of Schools

1st place –Timur Arazmedov, Turkmenistan;

2nd place – Shugyla Salimulda, Kazakhstan;

3rd place – Enara Charyeva, Turkmenistan.

The topic of the essays: How the 1961 Statelessness Convention was developed and its role in resolving the issue of statelessness?

Category 2: Students of Universities

1st place – Nowruz Nurberdiyev, Turkmenistan – Impact of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness;

2nd place – Marsel Nurbolotov, The Kyrgyz Republic – Significance of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and solutions to address statelessness;

3rd place – Shakhnoza Idjanova, Kazakhstan – The age of statelessness’s reappearance: legal security, socio-economic rights, innovative solutions.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) for Central Asia jointly with the Al-Farabi Kazakh National University and the Central Asian Network on Statelessness (CANS) announces the Second Regional Statelessness Paper Competition for Students – “Impact of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness”.

To mark the 60th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, we invite school and university students, interested in international relations, law and human rights, to present essays or research papers on the impact of the 1961 Convention and its relevance today.

Competition task

Essay

School students (7-11 grades of secondary schools): Participants in this category should provide an essay up to 1,000 words on the topic “How the 1961 Statelessness Convention was developed and how it helps to resolve the problem of statelessness”.

or

Research paper

University students (undergraduate and graduate): Participants in this category should provide a research paper of up to 6,000 words, on topics related to nationality and statelessness, its causes and consequences, the impact of the 1961 Statelessness Convention on the evolution of international law, and its continuing relevance, interconnected socio-economic rights, innovative solutions for streamlining the reduction and prevention of statelessness, protection of stateless persons and achieving the ultimate goal of statelessness eradication by 2024.

Eligibility

For essay category: Students of 7-11 grades of secondary schools in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan at the time of submission.

or

For research paper category: Students enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate degree program at an accredited university in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan at the time of submission.

Submission requirements

Competition works must be written solely by the candidate, in English or Russian, and may not have been submitted for publication elsewhere.

Submissions must be:

• Essays: up to 1,000 words
• Research papers: up to 6,000 words, including footnotes.

Each candidate is limited to a single submission.

Each submission is limited to a single author.

Persons affiliated with UNHCR staff and partners implementing UNHCR projects cannot participate in this competition.

Submission process

The deadline for submissions is 11:59 PM (GMT+6), 5 November 2021.

Applicants should complete a registration form and send it together with the competition work (essay OR research paper) in Microsoft Word format attachment to email: kazalres@unhcr.org with the subject line “Regional Statelessness Paper Competition 2021”. Questions should be directed to the same address.

Prizes

Essay category

• 1 place – a laptop;
• 2 place – a tablet;
• 3 place – a smartphone

Research paper category

• 1st place – enrollment in a world-class international statelessness course and a laptop;
• 2nd place – a tablet;
• 3rd place – a smartphone

A message announcing the name of the winners will be published on UNHCR Central Asia and partners websites and social media accounts. An e-mail with the final outcome will also be sent to all who submitted works.

Learn more details about the competition, eligibility requirements and selection criteria.