More coordination between PRM and other bureaus is needed for more effective change on statelessness at the country. Overall challenges. The evaluation also uncovered major challenges stemming from the geopolitical context around statelessness and the relationship between statelessness and discrimination, with examples of both issues found in all three countries. In the Dominican Republic, the geopolitical issues center around its relationship with Haiti, in relation to the border and immigration. The Dominican Republic’s migrant regularization plan is frequently conflated by both authorities and the public with pathways to nationality for Dominicans of Haitian descent. There is a risk that this could confuse the issue and further politicize solutions for stateless and at-risk of statelessness persons. Being a small, unaligned country between China and India has sidelined a focus on Nepal to a significant degree. This issue is also made more complicated by the fact that the U.S. focus on Tibetan refugees, which leaves little bandwidth for focusing on statelessness issues in Nepal. Thailand’s relationship with Burma (Myanmar) has similarly impacted its efforts to address statelessness, as statelessness is linked to the issue of regional migration. Discrimination is also a major cause and consequence of statelessness, as cited by multiple interviewees and highlighted throughout this report. Over three-quarters of the world’s known stateless populations belong to ethnic, racial, religious and/or linguistic minority groups. Since the beginning of the campaign, no country has amended its laws to remove provisions that permit denial or deprivation of nationality on discriminatory grounds based on race and ethnicity. In the three countries, discrimination was highlighted as a major factor in impeding progress on addressing statelessness. In 2017, the current Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues identified statelessness as a major priority for the mandate, given that an estimated 75 percent of stateless people are from minority groups. Given the strong link between discrimination and statelessness, the Special Rapporteur highlighted the lack of focus in the GAP on discrimination as a systemic cause of statelessness and recommended that greater efforts are needed to address this omission. The UN does not currently have a Special Rapporteur on Statelessness; however, the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism also issued a report on racial discrimination in the context of nationality, citizenship, and immigration, with recommendations for governments on how to better address the link between racism, xenophobia, gender discrimination, and statelessness.31 In all three countries, discriminatory laws, policies, and practices remain the most serious barriers to move forward, as highlighted in Table 6. The evaluation has therefore identified that greater attention to looking at discrimination, as a cause and consequence of statelessness is needed and is a major oversight of both UNHCR and PRM’s approach. Table 6: Cases of Discrimination in the three countries Caste and Gender Discrimination in Nepal “The government says there is no discrimination and no problem. We all are equal. But in practice, on the ground, the Dalit are facing more discrimination, more violence. We are human being. We are impure in our society. We are untouchable. People in upper caste, people are not touch with us. That right of marriage is equal for all, but non-Dalit are not accept the Dalit girl” Ethnic Minority Discrimination in Thailand “Her children were born in the village, but during those times, she didn’t have a birth certificate, so she went back and brought her child to get the birth registration. Finally, she got that. But finds later that they used the wrong spelling. She didn’t check before and found out when she went to the Civil Registration Office for the I.D. So, the spelling was wrong intentionally. To correct that, they had to pay more money and go more often. People in the village don’t want to go [to get documents] because they have to pay each time and go often. The officials will see the person’s village name, parent’s name, and make it more difficult. This is why some ethnic groups are not so willing to go get their documents.” Race and Ethnicity Discrimination in Dominican Republic “For example, with the Civil Registry, the Dominican Constitution establishes the recognition as full Dominican to those persons whose parents were born of parents who have permanent residence. We have had cases where for the simple fact of being black, or having an accent, or being accompanied by the father who does not speak Spanish well, the official assumes you to be Haitian…Then he proceeds to declare his son, the son of this person who has his residence as Haitian. This son then is in limbo.” 31 OHCHR, Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Report on racial discrimination in the context of nationality, citizenship and immigration, A/HRC/38/52 (2018). 29