hold no personal documentation, the level of treatment that they experience may be particularly harsh. Among the most fundamental protection concerns are detention, expulsion and the denial of the right to return to their place of habitual residence – problems which, although not widely reported, have been experienced by some stateless individuals or groups in a variety of MENA countries at one time or another. In contrast, recognition of the right to return to their place of habitual residence has played a central part in two major situations of statelessness that are now moving towards a resolution: the repatriation and confirmation or re-acquisition of nationality for formerly-stateless populations from Mauritania and Iraq. Access to housing, the opportunity to earn an adequate living, access to education and healthcare and the enjoyment of family life are all further areas in which stateless persons face significant challenges. The nature and extent of these difficulties vary from one person and one country to another. Problems may emanate from outright exclusion (e.g. property ownership, access to specific professions), from the inability of stateless persons to benefit from reciprocal agreements (e.g. social security, labour rights) or from practical impediments in accessing rights and services due to lack of the required paperwork (e.g. access to healthcare or education, ability to contract marriage). In some areas, states have made important progress in improving the protection situation of stateless persons. Kuwait has taken steps to promote the right to work for Bidoon, including by opening up certain professions that Bidoon were previously ineligible for. Some of Lebanon’s local mayors have issued “special papers”, free of charge, to stateless children to allow them to register at school and obtain a diploma. In Bahrain, where nationals are exempt from government fees for health services, public schools and a number of other facilities, this waiver has now been extended to stateless children. Efforts and opportunities for the reduction of statelessness The MENA region provides examples of stateless populations whose situation has stagnated due to lack of action to address their case as well as policies that have resulted in the perpetuation and even expansion of statelessness. At the same time, there have also been a number of significant efforts to reduce statelessness. One way in which this has been achieved, as recently exemplified in Qatar, Mauritania and Iraq, is the simple confirmation or re-acquisition of nationality for persons whose citizenship had previously been disputed or withdrawn. A second important means of reducing statelessness has been that of tailored naturalisation campaigns, such as those adopted in Lebanon, Bahrain and United Arab Emirates. Thus, for instance, a Naturalisation Decree adopted in Lebanon in 1994 allowed in excess of 150,000 persons to acquire Lebanese nationality, including a substantial number of individuals who were previously stateless. Meanwhile, successive rounds of naturalisation over the course of the last decade have led, according to the Minister of the Interior, to the acquisition of citizenship by 7,012 people in Bahrain. Naturalisation efforts in United Arab Emirates are also ongoing, with 1294 Bidoon acquiring citizenship in October 2007 and another 51 the following year. 26