ECR MEP Amjad Bashir's call to end statelessness in South & South East Asia received overwhelming support in the European Parliament today.

The vote comes as the situation for the world's largest group of stateless people, the Rohingyas, worsens and pressure builds for Myanmar to allow a UN fact-finding mission into the country to investigate abuses. Mr Bashir's report calls on the international community, including the EU and UN, to do more to put an end to the denial of citizenship rights in the world's most problematic region for statelessness, South and South East Asia.

"I hope today's vote will put pressure on those countries that continue to deny people the basic rights of citizens" said Mr Bashir, welcoming the Parliament's overwhelming support.

"Promoting statehood is becoming an urgent problem as the births of 135 million refugee children have not been registered across South and South East Asia and they are at risk of becoming stateless."

"Getting married, getting a job, accessing education or healthcare are incredibly difficult when you are denied citizenship by your country. It isn't just the simple things in life that become more difficult. At its worst it can lead to hostile discrimination, ethnic cleansing and murder with no protection."

"The case of the Rohingyas, who have suffered serious human rights violations by the hands of Myanmar's military while the government denies it, must spur the international community to act. We must recognise the progress made in Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam, however there are still millions who are stateless and persecuted every day because of it. Today's vote will provide hope to those who are suffering and ensures promoting citizenship is a priority for the EU."

The report is part of his campaign to raise awareness of the problem of statelessness. As part of that campaign he visited the United Nations Human Rights Council where he called on the UN to do more.

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Contact: Cameron Smith, +447769833605, cameron.j.smith@europarl.europa.eu

The ECR was created to take the EU in a new direction, according to the principles of our founding Prague Declaration. It is the third largest group in the European Parliament with 74 MEPs from 18 EU states.

For more information on the ECR, watch our promotional video at http://youtu.be/F5syQt1JuQI or visit our website: www.ecrgroup.eu