Barrier
Recognition withheld
Palestinian refugees from Syria faced the consequences of their statelessness without recognition of that legal reality in Switzerland.
Established 2026Private preview
Statelessness
Impact Award
The first international award dedicated to statelessness work: recognising measurable, impactful contributions that improve the rights, livelihoods, and inclusion of stateless people.
EditionInaugural
Presented21 March 2026
LocationSliema, Malta
Setting
Statelessness Awareness Forum (Europe)
2026 inaugural recipient
Ghada Alrayan
A Palestinian human rights advocate whose determined work helped secure a landmark Swiss ruling recognising Palestinian refugees from Syria as de jure stateless.
Principled, determined action can transform lived experience into lasting systemic change.
Statelessness Impact Award · 2026
Anatomy of impact
From exclusion
to precedent.
Explore why the jury recognised this work.
Winner film · 4:26
Hear the story
in Ghada’s words.
The winner explains the legal barrier, the Swiss proceedings and what recognition means in practice.
Impact, not mere intention
Recognition that
changes the frame.
SIA responds to a field that remains under-recognised and under-resourced. It makes overlooked achievements visible, centres stateless people’s experiences, and rewards concrete change over symbolic commitment. It rewards action that speaks louder than words.
Recognise
Concrete, verifiable change rather than intentions, discourse, or media presence. SIA rewards agency that moves beyond ideational and dialogue stages to produce measurable results.
Centre
The lives and experiences of stateless people as the primary reference point, spotlighting the essential value of the expertise held by those who experience statelessness directly.
Shift
Statelessness from a perceived niche issue to a systemic human-rights challenge. The issue has always been and will continue to be a widespread critical flaw of the entire nation-state system.
Scale
Good practice by creating visibility, incentives and examples for action. Those who deliver impactful change can provide models for others to adapt, replicate, strengthen, and extend.
The inaugural ceremony
A night of
recognition.
The award was presented at AX Palazzo Capua in Malta on 21 March 2026, within the framework of the annual Statelessness Awareness Forum (Europe), or SAF(E).
Ceremony speakers
Ghada Alrayan · Jin Dawod · Jawad Fairooz · Aleksejs Ivashuk
The four speakers are respected leaders across the human rights and humanitarian sectors, bringing together professional expertise and lived experience. Their speeches emphasised the importance of recognising work that delivers tangible impact and highlighted the need to sustain and expand these efforts, placing the inaugural award within a shared commitment toward meaningful action for stateless people everywhere.
Who was in attendance
The inaugural SIA ceremony brought together SAF(E) participants and partners from 22 countries and approximately just as many institutions, including representatives of stateless-led and refugee-led organisations, NGOs, academia, the UN, and the legal and humanitarian sectors.
How the award is selected
Recipients are chosen through collective assessment by participating SAF(E) partner organisations, bringing together professional expertise and lived experience of forced displacement and statelessness.
2026 jury organisations
Collective assessment,
diverse expertise.
The inaugural Statelessness Impact Award jury comprised the following organisations:
Right to Protection Charitable Fund · Save My Identity · Global Statelessness Fund · Statefree · PILnet · Organization for Aid to Refugees · Italiani Senza Cittadinanza · SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights · Apatride Network
From recognition to direction
Make impact visible
The inaugural edition was Europe-regional. The SAF(E) partnership will revisit the scope of future editions, with an ambition to expand globally. Should this expansion take place, future editions of the Statelessness Impact Award would be held on a multi-year cycle. Stay tuned for further news.