In 2009, UNHCR began to implement a regional project in the Western Balkans to promote the social inclusion of marginalized communities, particularly Roma. Under the project, which was supported by the European Commission, UNHCR partnered with the Croatian Ombudsman’s office to provide free legal services to help Roma individuals surmount the challenges they face when trying to obtain birth certificates or other civilregistration documents necessary to prove nationality, thereby contributing to the prevention and reduction of statelessness in Croatia. UNHCR and the Croatian Ombudsman’s office were able to document systemic obstacles in Croatia’s legislation and civil-registration system that placed Roma at risk of statelessness. This in turn enabled the Ombudsman’s office and UNHCR to advocate for reforms. UNHCR convened a round table with the Ombudsman’s Office and the Croatian Office for Ethnic Minorities in 2010 at which it was highlighted that high administrative fees, a lack of personal identity documents and low rates of birth registration were the leading causes of statelessness among Roma in Croatia. The European Commission’s support for this project coincided with the European Union’s increasing scrutiny of Croatia’s record on social inclusion of Roma, including the prevention and reduction of statelessness in the community, through improved provision of civil registration documents. That same year, the national office translated into Croatian the UNHCR Brochures, Protecting the Rights of Stateless Persons: The 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and Preventing and Reducing Statelessness: The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, and used them for advocacy with the Government throughout 2011. The year 2011 saw UNHCR’s work yield positive results on several fronts. The Croatian Parliament adopted a Law on Promulgation of the 1961 Statelessness Convention and, on 22 September 2011, the Croatian President deposited his country’s instrument of accession at the United Nations Annual Treaty Event in New York. In the regional context, Croatia’s accession to the 1961 Convention was closely followed by that of Serbia, which acceded to the 1961 Convention on 7 December 2011. Croatia demonstrated its commitment to resolving statelessness not only on its own territory but also in the region by hosting the Conference on Provision of Civil Documentation and Registration in South-Eastern Europe, co-convened in October 2011 by UNHCR, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. The conference resulted in a joint declaration by all participants calling for improvements in the provision of civil documentation to Roma communities through both national and regional collaborative efforts.6 Croatia also submitted a pledge at the December 2011 Ministerial Meeting confirming its commitment to further improve its legislative and administrative structures to facilitate the provision of civil documentation to Roma with the view to prevention and reduction of statelessness among these communities.7 UNHCR has continued to work with Croatia and other governments in the region in this regard with the ultimate goal of resolving statelessness. 6 UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Zagreb Declaration, 27 October 2011, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4fa2193e2.html 7 The full text of Croatia’s pledge is included in UNHCR, Pledges 2011: Ministerial Intergovernmental Event on Refugees and Stateless Persons (Geneva, Palais des Nations, 7-8 December 2011), available at: http://www.unhcr.org/4ff55a319.html 7 CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS