II. RECOMMENDATIONS AND FUTURE STRATEGIES The following are the recommendations and suggestions for future strategies that were the outcome of discussions at the Regional Expert Meeting on the Human Rights of Stateless Persons in the Middle East and North Africa (Amman, 18-19 February 2010). • Broad partnerships should be developed by identifying and mobilising stakeholders at local, national, regional and international levels that take into account the capacities, mandates and interests of each potential actor. At the local / national level, participants discussed the engagement of all stakeholders including government authorities, local officials, parliamentarians and key decisionmakers; the affected population, including children, women, the elderly, and community leaders; lawyers, judges, bar associations and legal aid providers; academics and research centres; religious leaders and faith-based organisations; civil society organisations; National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) and the media. At the regional / international level, this list was supplemented by internationally operating NGOs and research centres; regional, sub-regional and international organisations such as, inter alia, the Gulf Cooperation Council, the League of Arab States, the Conference of Islamic States, the African Union, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union; and the UN system. • In mobilising stakeholders, priority should be given to empowering members of the affected populations to play an active part in processes, activities and decisions that concern them. Mention was made of several successful initiatives to encourage individuals from affected populations to come forward and prepare them to present their own case to the media, to government officials and other stakeholders. There was also a call to find ways to allow such persons to participate in future meetings of this kind as well as in relevant follow-up activities. • Efforts should be made to “mainstream” statelessness within the UN system, including by raising the awareness of UN agencies to how the statelessness issue intersects with specific organisational mandates. There was broad recognition for the potential for the UN system to provide critical support in addressing statelessness in the region. OHCHR and UNHCR reaffirmed their commitment to help – and where appropriate lead – other stakeholders in this context, including through raising the issue within UN Country Teams and possibly United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAF) in the region. • National and regional civil society actors should, together with the United Nations, advocate a two-tiered approach: on one hand, the prevention and 7