EC/66/SC/CRP.11 first in a series of good practices workshops. This will be followed by a good practices paper on the same topic. 19. The findings of studies in a number of countries in the past two years, such as Finland, Iceland, Japan, Malta and the Republic of Korea provided useful information on gaps in legislation and administrative practices as well the challenges faced by stateless migrants in the absence of identification and protection mechanisms. Despite these efforts, progress in this area was slow. Only two countries, namely Kosovo and Turkey, established statelessness determination procedures during the reporting period. A number of other countries, including Argentina, Armenia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Iceland, the Netherlands, Panama and Uruguay are working towards the creation of such procedures. 20. Efforts at the national level were bolstered by publication in June 2014 of the Handbook on Protection of Stateless Person under the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. The Handbook combines the content of the three Guidelines published in 2012 on the definition of a stateless person, determination procedures and status of stateless persons. It aims to provide guidance to governments, judges, practitioners, UNHCR staff and others involved in identification and protection of stateless persons. (d) Preventing statelessness through birth registration and provision of identity documentation 21. Lack of birth registration and documentation proving nationality can create a risk of statelessness and improving government civil registration and documentation systems remained vital activities under UNHCR’s mandate to prevent statelessness. Work in this area continued to intensify: responses were undertaken in 56 States, up from 35 in the preceding period. Both birth registration and issuance of identity documentation to those entitled to it are included in the Global Action Plan. 22. UNHCR and its partners promoted universal birth registration among Syrian refugee children born in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey through advocacy, distribution of country-specific print and video materials to local authorities and Syrian refugees and provision of legal aid. For example, over 40,000 families were counselled on birth registration procedures in Lebanon in 2014 and the Government simplified the procedures to register new refugee births. Jordan launched mobile birth registration for all camp-based refugees and issued 2,400 birth certificates to Syrian refugee children in 2014, compared to fewer than 300 birth certificates in 2013. 23. In South Sudan, UNHCR supported the Government in issuing nationality documentation through provision of material assistance, training and technical advice and conducted awareness-raising activities. Similar activities were carried out in Sudan where a team of South Sudanese nationality officers was deployed with UNHCR support to issue South Sudanese travel and nationality documents in order to address heightened risks of statelessness among South Sudanese residing in Sudan. The crisis in South Sudan affected the nationality documentation activities in both countries. (e) Promoting accession 24. Promotion of accessions to the 1954 and 1961 Statelessness Conventions remained a major focus. The Office promoted accession to the 1954 Convention in 90 States, as compared to 67 in 2011-2013. With respect to the 1961 Convention, UNHCR promoted accession in 112 States, a major increase over the previous period when the Office did so in 55 States. Promotion activities included advocacy letters to a number of governments, 6