On 4 June, the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM), Ambassador Kairat Abdrakhmanov, delivered his first address to the OSCE Permanent Council in his current function. Referring to his recent consultations with UNHCR, the HCNM highlighted the importance of addressing statelessness, emphasizing that statelessness in the OSCE region “is both a human rights concern and a conflict prevention issue.” He stressed the need to improve statelessness statistics and encouraged participating States to include questions related to statelessness in future census exercises. On 16 April, in South Africa, the NGO Lawyers for Human Rights briefed the Department of Home Affairs on the increased risk of statelessness due to interruptions in birth registration services and the closure of citizenship services linked to COVID-19 mitigation measures. At the meeting, which was convened by the South African Human Rights Commission, the Department of Home Affairs committed to strengthen its engagement on these issues. On 27 and 28 May, the Government of Namibia adopted a National Action Plan to End Statelessness. Among other actions, the National Action Plan foresees accession to the UN Statelessness Conventions, amendment of the legislative framework related to statelessness, a qualitative and quantitative study on statelessness, and the naturalization and documentation of stateless populations in Namibia. In North Macedonia, UNHCR, the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association, the UN Resident Coordinator and the OSCE met with the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Labour and Social Policy to discuss steps to resolve gaps in the legislative framework related to civil registration. The meeting followed the tragic death of a 19-year-old high school graduate, Toni Sali, whose birth was not registered and who could not access primary healthcare throughout his life. The case received significant media attention, which stressed the importance of universal birth registration. On 25 and 26 May, in Mbour, Senegal, the Ministry of Justice and UNHCR organized a workshop which resulted in the technical validation of the National Action Plan against Statelessness. It is expected that the National Action Plan will be officially adopted by the Government in the coming weeks, paving the way for more predictable engagement on statelessness issues. From April to June, in Serbia, UNHCR and the Ministry for Public Administration and Local SelfGovernment and the office of the Ombudsman organized webinars for more than 350 civil registry officers to call attention to obstacles faced by members of the Roma national minority in obtaining personal documentation and training on ways to mitigate them. UNHCR also presented the findings of its 2020 Statelessness Survey. On 22 June, the Government of Somalia launched its National Action Plan to End Statelessness, following a multi-stakeholder workshop held on 17 June. During the virtual launch event, the Minister of Interior reiterated the Government’s commitment to fulfil its pledges made at the 2019 High-Level Segment on Statelessness and further committed to conduct a review of Somalia’s Citizenship Law and strengthen its civil registration system. On 21 May, the Government of Botswana submitted new pledges to address statelessness to the Global Refugee Forum. The Government committed to accede to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, to issue secure identification documents to all citizens and non-citizens in Botswana, to review relevant statutes to enable a conducive platform to address statelessness, and to undertake a qualitative study on statelessness in Botswana. On 17 and 18 May, UNHCR and the Ambassadors of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) held a virtual retreat. Among other issues, the retreat focused on promoting the effective implementation of pledges made by States at the 2019 High-Level Segment on Statelessness. States were urged to join the UN Statelessness Conventions, support legislative reforms in line with international standards to prevent and reduce statelessness, and establish Statelessness Determination Procedures. 6