Nationality Code. Obtaining a nationality certificate is now the precursor to obtaining a national ID card. Nevertheless, judges and courts can be susceptible to subjective, sometimes even arbitrary, reasoning and actions. To promote transparency and uniformity, the Ivorian Ministry of Justice should develop and publish clear guidelines on how judges are to address various evidentiary issues when determining whether an individual is an Ivorian national or not. The 2014 circular on “secure judicial certificates” which supersedes the 1962 Interministerial Circular addressing these issues207 is silent on evidentiary issues related to nationality certificates. Clear and authoritative guidance on the issuance of nationality certificates must therefore be developed. Once these are available, training workshops for judges will be helpful, as will ongoing review sessions for judges to exchange on challenges that arise in their determination procedures. Civil society must also play an important role in increasing court monitoring to ensure that judges’ discretion on nationality is kept to a minimum and to make ongoing recommendations on how to ensure uniformity and transparency in the issuance of nationality certificates. The Ivorian government must also foresee a system whereby those who are denied nationality certificates should be automatically screened for statelessness and devise a path for them according statelessness status, or another remedy towards acquisition of nationality for those concerned, to fulfill their legal obligations. In light of the prominence courts will now play in nationality determination, it is worth reflecting on whether they are the most appropriate actor in the Ivorian context to do so. The expense and inaccessibility of courts deter individuals from seeking jugements supplétifs, let alone nationality certificates, perpetuating their undocumented status. To prevent this, the Ivorian government should consider reducing the costs associated with obtaining jugements supplétifs and nationality certificates, or promoting regular mobile court hearings to facilitate this process on an ongoing basis. Another approach would be to consider undertaking a special nationality campaign to reach the significant portion of its undocumented population.208 As Côte d’Ivoire goes forward in reflecting how to address its statelessness obligations, all options on how to overcome its historical legacy of having a restrictive, yet arbitrary, nationality system should be on the table. 5.7. Constructive acquisition and/or arbitrary deprivation of Ivorian nationality? Is it possible that the crisis-recovery identification and voter registration process pursuant to the APO confirmed as Ivorian nationals some historical migrants or their descendants who might not have acquired Ivorian nationality according to the Nationality Code? For the purpose of the voter list in 2010, which formed the basis for the 2015 voter list without review, Ivorian nationality was confirmed based on historical databases, none of which applied the letter of the law in practice. For example, foreigners were still allowed to vote in the 1990 elections and despite rising tensions after the introduction of the carte de séjour, some “foreigners” still obtained national ID cards and participated in the 1995 elections. The same holds true regarding the green national ID cards distributed between November 1998 and January 2000 under Bédié. None of the historical databases used to determine nationality were compiled in an objective, non-discretionary manner relying on uniform legal standards or proof regarding a person’s Ivorian or non-Ivorian nationality. In that light, it is indeed possible that some people on the 2010 and 2015 voter list were issued Ivorian ID cards even though they – or their parents – might not have formally acquired Ivorian nationality pursuant to any official channel. This raises a further question: if someone who is entitled to a country’s nationality by law but is denied that nationality in practice is stateless,209 can the converse be true?210 To put it 207 Note Circulaire, supra note 97. UNHCR, supra note 7, para. 59. 209 UNHCR, supra note 7, para. 24. 208 56