MALAYSIA Context and existing response Important headway in addressing statelessness in Malaysia has been made in the past three years. Since 2014, UNHCR has supported a local NGO to identify and register stateless people in West Malaysia. By the end of 2015, approximately 12,300 stateless people of Indian/Tamil origin were registered and by November 2016, 1,503 individuals had acquired Malaysian nationality. Community-based paralegals provide counselling and individual legal assistance to the registered individuals in their nationality applications to the government authorities. In addition to providing technical advice to the NGO running the mapping and legal assistance project, UNHCR organizes and facilitates consultation and training sessions on nationality and statelessness for pro bono lawyers and different service providers. UNHCR also undertakes public awareness-raising activities on birth registration, documentation procedures, and the legal framework on nationality in Malaysia. Strategy and partnerships UNHCR will continue supporting the local NGO in assisting registered individuals to acquire Malaysian nationality. All registered individuals whose cases are being submitted to the Government are expected to acquire nationality by the end of 2018. UNHCR will also assist in coordinating ongoing local civil society efforts towards evidence-based and pervasive recommendations for policy change to fully resolve statelessness in West Malaysia. UNHCR also aims to support the replication of the registration and paralegal assistance approach in East Malaysia, to assist stateless people and people of undetermined nationality in submitting their application to the National Registration Department, the relevant embassies or mobile counsellor missions with the objective of resolving their lack of documentation and undetermined nationality through the grant or confirmation of their nationality. By maintaining small scale engagement through grassroots organizations and targeted gathering of qualitative and quantitative data, UNHCR will increase its understanding of the issues and aim to create favourable conditions for policy dialogue with the Federal Government and other UN agencies. The Office will focus on birth registration and confirmation or acquisition of nationality for those of concern under its statelessness mandate. Solutions may also have to consider labour market inclusion, long-term residence, naturalization, and anti-discrimination measures. UNHCR also works closely with UNICEF and other national and regional partners working on the improvement of civil registration and vital statistics, in particular in the context of implementing the Ministerial Declaration and the Regional Action Framework on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific region, which can help prevent statelessness by facilitating the birth registration of children at-risk of statelessness. Vision for 2019  Identified stateless persons in West Malaysia have acquire Malaysian nationality.  Evidence based advocacy ongoing to further reduce and prevent statelessness.  Improved data available on marginalized communities with low birth registration rates, and concrete steps taken to address their situation. 31