2021 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 3(1) Despite this safeguard, Costa Rica does not publish data concerning nationals identified through the SDP and referred to the civil registry system. As of 2020, the official data reported 89 cases that were recognised as stateless and 136 files that remain active. 79 Costa Rica has a mixed system of nationality acquisition (jus soli and jus sanguinis), nevertheless, the most relevant statelessness situation has been in situ stateless or in situ populations at risk of statelessness. 80 Thus, it is possible that in situ stateless populations could apply to the SDP and be identified within this procedure. Paraguay: Law No 6.149 ‘Protection and Assistance to Enable Naturalisation for Stateless Persons’ (‘Law No 6.149’) 81 Article 52 of Law No 6.149 contains the procedure for late birth registration. When the National Commission for Stateless and Refugees (‘CONARE’), determines, based on the documentation and facts presented on the application or interview, that the person would have been born in the territory of the country without properly nor timely birth registration, the process will be suspended and the case referred to the competent authority to proceed with the late birth registration, accordingly. If this procedure has concluded without the person being registered as a national, an administrative or judicial final decision will be communicated to CONARE to continue the statelessness determination procedure. Article 65 contains a presumption of nationality. It states that: no person will be officially considered stateless if, given their disability condition, they cannot be understood by others, through other persons or by other means, and as result, cannot demonstrate they are a national of the country or have a right to nationality of the country. In these cases, CONARE´s Executive Secretary will refer the case for verification or grant the nationality, and in cases of doubt will decide in favour of nationality status. The law relies on CONARE’s discretion to identify whether the applicant could be a national of the state and refer the case to the national civil registry system. The civil registry will then investigate if the applicant could be a national of Paraguay. 79 80 81 Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Lanzamiento del informe sobre debido proceso para la determinación de persona refugiada o apátrida (YouTube, 19 December 2020) 00:28:00–00:35:00 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL_wSC-okjQ>. In Costa Rica, some indigenous populations and their offspring, such as the Ngäbe-Buglé people, who migrated from Panamá to Costa Rica to work on plantations, have been at risk of statelessness given the lack of birth registry. This includes abandoned children. Between 2017–19, 6,300 cases were filed for birth registry in Costa Rica. Costa Rica, in collaboration with Panama, adopted a specialised model for eradicating the risk of statelessness and providing access to civil registries for indigenous populations, especially in border zones. In this regard, Costa Rica made the requirements for access to late birth registration flexible, with a distinct focus on indigenous populations. ‘Proyecto ‘Chiriticos’ benefició a cientos de indígenas Ngäbe-Buglé en Sixaola’, UNHCR (Blog Post, 9 August 2017) <https://www.acnur.org/noticias/noticia/2017/8/5b0c1d5311/costa-rica-proyecto-chiriticosbeneficio-a-cientos-de-indigenas-ngaebe-bugle-ensixaola.html#:~:text=Las%20personas%20Ng%C3%A4be%2DBugl%C3%A9%2C%20que, no%20registro%20de%20los%20nacimientos>; Estudio Regional sobre Inscripción Tardía de Nacimientos, Otorgamiento de Documentos de Nacionalidad y Apatridia (Report, UNHCR December 2020) 40, 45, 75, 107. As of December 2019, Paraguay reported that it had not yet received SDP applications. Good Practice Paper 2020 (n 3) 42; Paraguay: Paraguayan Act No 6.149 (n 68). 78