at least have a legal status and are not stateless, they are not locally integrated at the level of nationality and identity documents. The police treat them as foreigners just the same, subjecting them to shake-downs for money if they do not have a national ID card. 4.5. Border populations Members of ethnic groups that straddle Africa’s arbitrarily generated borders sometimes face difficulties in being recognised as nationals on both sides of that border. Although, technically speaking, the laws of most ECOWAS countries allow dual nationality of origin (with the exception of Liberia only -- see section 2.6.6), the possibility that a person has ties across what is now an international border creates suspicions around entitlement to nationality where the person is born. The research for this report was not able to explore this issue with a statistical survey on access to documents for those in border regions. Across the region, people who have family names that could also originate from a neighbouring country report discrimination and additional checks in relation to their identity, compared to those whose names are unambiguous. Their access to documentation may depend as much on administrative practice and the attitudes of officials responsible for issuing documents as on the formal provisions of the law. Sometimes, indeed, officials choose for good reasons to turn a blind eye to violations of immigration law, such as in the case of “market women” trading across borders, or children crossing to another country to go to school where none is available on their side of the border. During election times, when there is the temptation for politicians to ensure that presumed supporters across the border are registered, allegations and counter-allegations fly about those who are denied registration who should be registered – but more commonly that people are being registered to vote as nationals who should not be. In those countries where diaspora voting is allowed the situation is further complicated by the lack of clarity on what documentation is required to register to vote (see further section 3.2). It is at times of crisis that questions of documentation become most urgent. Where there are population movements across borders at times of conflict, there can be suspicion of those who have sought refuge, even if they are in fact moving to a country where they are entitled to nationality. UNHCR is attempting to address this confusion in the context of the displacement caused by the attacks from Boko Haram in north-eastern Nigeria. As of mid-2014, the Niger authorities had registered almost 40,000 persons who fled the violence in north-eastern Nigeria in 2014. Most of these persons had no identity papers, though a majority stated that they were returning Niger nationals. However, it is likely that many had parents or grandparents on both sides of the border, and could be equally eligible for both nationalities – both countries allow dual nationality of origin in principle. UNHCR and the government agreed that they would seek to document the entire population that fled Nigeria, establishing information relevant to nationality determination.213 In the different context of peacetime, IOM is attempting to address similar issues through the concept of a border resident card, made available by two neighbouring countries to individuals resident in a border region who frequently cross from one side to the other (for family ties, trade or other reasons). 213 Forced Displacement of and Potential Solutions for IDPs and refugees in the Sahel – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania & Niger, UNHCR and Global Program on Forced Displacement of the World Bank, October 2013; Information supplied by UNHCR Niamey office, May 2014. 66