place specific arrangements for dealing with the status – and documentation – of Palestinian refugees, whereby their access to and enjoyment of fundamental rights may be facilitated. Access to and impact of personal documents The extent to which stateless persons enjoy access to personal documentation in MENA countries depends in part on their status, and in part, on other factors. Participants raised the importance of efforts by local officials to offer basic identity papers to those stateless individuals whose status is most vulnerable and who do not enjoy access to official civil registration. Mention was also made of a “security card” issued in one country to stateless persons in lieu of regular identity documents. Although such papers do not secure access for stateless persons to the full range of rights and government facilities, they may enable stateless children, for instance, to attend school and may afford some protection against arbitrary detention. Participants noted, however, that there were divergent practices with regard to the recognition of these documents by service providers and that there is also no uniform policy with regards to the actual issuance of such documents. It was further noted that the question of access to documentation for stateless persons is closely related to the question of access to documentation generally, including documentation verifying an individual’s status as a national. As such, situations of statelessness and of a risk of statelessness (due to lack of proof of nationality) can overlap within the overall category of undocumented persons. When a person is undocumented, priority must be given to the acquisition of paperwork that confirms his or her status as a national, rather than issuance of a stateless person document. Access to formal identity documents and other paperwork such as civil registration, national identity cards, driving licenses and travel documents typically occurs in a similarly ad hoc manner. In some instances, stateless persons are able to secure such documents whereby the field relating to nationality is left blank or contains a clear statement that the individual is not a national of the state of issuance. In other cases, access to some or all of these documents is reported to be severely problematic. Participants pointed out that while substantial attention is paid to the issue of birth registration and its importance in the prevention of (further) statelessness, the need to ensure marriage and death registration is often overlooked. Marriage is a pivotal moment in the lives of stateless persons and if states do not take appropriate action at this juncture, this can contribute to the perpetuation of statelessness. Additionally, participants recalled the key function that death registration can play in the realisation of inheritance rights but also in the context of nationality law which may make special provision for children in the event of the death of one or both parents, helping to avoid statelessness. Promoting the registration of all marriages and deaths is a simple yet effective means of taking action to prevent statelessness. 5. Human rights of stateless persons: ensuring the enjoyment of the full range of rights Non-discrimination and the protection of stateless persons 17