possessed no documentation with complex migratory and family histories, time and again, members of urban and village communities interviewed for this report recommended traveling to meet people in “les campements les plus enclavés” or the most isolated camp settlements. These communities are the farthest from the reach not only of public authorities, but also of the zone of intervention of even the most engaged humanitarian actors. 5.1.2. Intended beneficiaries of the integrationist policies in place at independence The Ivorian legislators adopted Law No. 2013-653 with the explicit intention of correcting the historical anomaly that “certain populations who, despite having totally integrated into the Ivorian social fabric and considering themselves Ivorians, remain non-nationals as a matter of law, but without having another nationality.”166 In other words, the legislators were motivated in part to reduce statelessness through this measure. Recall that the 2013 declaration program was extended to the following three general categories of beneficiaries, although ambiguities prevailed as to whether and which legal descendants of these categories also qualified: (1) persons born in Côte d’Ivoire to foreign parents aged less than 21 years on 20 December 1961; (2) foreigners with uninterrupted habitual residence in Côte d’Ivoire prior to 7 August 1960; and (3) persons born in Côte d’Ivoire to foreign parents between 20 December 1961 and 25 January 1973. What can be said of the likely impact on reduction of statelessness of this program? Interviews and observations of the program during the initial period for the submission of requests to acquire nationality by declaration167 revealed that the majority of those who applied to acquire Ivorian nationality through the declaration procedure possess a foreign nationality and are not stateless. Most often, possession of a consular card, which may or may not have been included as part of an application, indicates that an individual has strong ties to another country. As such, although this program is important for preventing statelessness among a group generally at risk of statelessness, it will be impossible to measure the actual reduction of statelessness through the declaration program based on the information provided in an applicant’s dossier alone. In fact, it is rather likely that few stateless persons will be able to acquire Ivorian nationality though the declaration program. By design of the procedure, the Ivorian government requires that all applicants provide a copy of their birth certificate. Depending on family circumstances, historical migrants who only possess birth certificates – and have no documentation indicating their nationality (such as a nationality certificate or a national ID card) – can certainly be at risk of statelessness unless certain measures are taken to establish a legal bond to any of the countries with which they have ties. Nevertheless, the possession of a birth certificate in itself is already the first and most important step required to begin to undertake this process. To illustrate this point, say a woman was born in Côte d’Ivoire to Malian parents in 1970 and possesses a birth certificate with the date and place of her birth and the names of her parents. Prima facie, this woman qualifies as a beneficiary of the Ivorian declaration program. Yet possession of a birth certificate also empowers the woman to document automatic acquisition of Malian nationality through descent if she presented herself to Malian consular authorities with the proof of her filiation to Malian parents. The outlook might change with some different hypothetical facts. For example, say this woman was born in Côte d’Ivoire to Malian parents in 1970, but her birth was never registered. If she has lived in Côte d’Ivoire without any documentation all her life, she could be at a higher risk of statelessness. The level of this risk would depend on numerous circumstances: Does she have other documentary proof of her parentage? Are her parents still alive and available to testify to the facts 166 Exposé des Motifs, Projet de Loi portant Dispositions Particulières en Matière d’Acquisition de la Nationalité par Déclaration, 2013 (on file with author). 167 Interviews conducted throughout Côte d’Ivoire in June, July, and August 2014. 45