10 Preventing Statelessness Among Migrants and Refugees We set out to understand better the extent to which efforts by host states to ensure universal birth registration paid attention to the specific challenges faced by migrants and refugees without official documentation from their countries of origin. We inquired about the effectiveness of child protection systems to preserve the right to nationality of unaccompanied or separated children. Equally importantly, we sought to consider the access to consular services, and the impact of lack of access to consular services in relation to civil registration and identity documents. We also wished to investigate the impact of lack of official documentation of identity, and of nationality specifically, on both children and adults, in addition to the general problems created by irregular migration status. Research Methods The research was coordinated from the London School of Economics Middle East Centre. Templates for interviews with migrants and refugees, and with the state and consular authorities of host and sending countries, were developed in consultation among the research partners, based on initial drafts prepared by the Middle East Centre. CMRS and AMERM conducted the primary research in Egypt and Morocco. Focus group discussions and interviews were conducted with Syrians and with Nigerians in both countries; in Egypt, CMRS also interviewed migrants and refugees from Ethiopia and Eritrea, Sudan and South Sudan, and Somalia; in Morocco, AMERM concentrated on those coming from Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Cameroon. These communities were selected based on estimates of the most numerous populations of foreigners resident in each country. We did not focus on the stateless Palestinian community, whose challenges are already well-documented.13 In total, around 50 migrants and refugees (all adults) participated in the research in Morocco, and 150 in Egypt, the majority through focus groups, with some interviewed in greater depth on specific issues. Interviews with officials responsible for civil registration in the host country sought their perspective; as did interviews with UN agencies and civil society organisations with relevant mandates. Interviews with consular authorities were significantly more difficult to obtain, and despite repeated attempts, in Egypt only a representative from the Ethiopian consulate could be interviewed, and in Morocco, from Mali, Nigeria and Senegal. For Egypt, see Oroub El-Abed, ‘The Forgotten Palestinians: How Palestinian Refugees Survive in Egypt’, Forced Migration Review Vol. 20 (2004), pp. 29–31, and other works by the same author. 13