of individuals belonging to a category concerned by the decision who seek to access new rights. Such data collection can in turn be used to show exactly what the problems are with existing systems, and advocate for further reform.172 Following a successful case at regional or international level, litigators will need to develop strategies to “bring the case home” to the country concerned. Here the factors to consider may include: • How can general statements of principle in international law be translated into specific national reforms? • Who are the parliamentary and civil society allies who can use the judgment as the basis for further advocacy; and • Can the follow-up mechanisms that exist before some treaty bodies and courts be activated in case of nonimplementation? I - Case example: Litigation as the foundation for ongoing advocacy on behalf of Urdu-speakers in Bangladesh There are about 300,000 members of the Urdu-speaking community living in “camps for stranded Pakistanis” in Bangladesh, whose status as Bangladeshi citizens has been contested since the war in 1971 by which East Pakistan gained independence from West Pakistan and became the separate state of Bangladesh. 173 In two landmark judgments concerning the status of Bihari Urdu speakers in 2003174 and 2008175, the Bangladesh High Court confirmed the status of the litigants in the case as existing Bangladeshi citizens and ordered their recognition as such and registration on the electoral roll.176 Following the decision in 2003, UNHCR increased its advocacy for policy reform to reduce statelessness among the Urdu-speakers of Bangladesh. International nongovernmental organisations also drew attention to the situation.177 In November 2007, a group of 23 eminent academics, journalists, lawyers, and human rights activists made a joint statement urging the government to respect the citizenship rights of the Urdu-speakers. In 2008 a new law was adopted finally accepting the judgments of the courts and providing citizenship for “Bihari refugees”. Since passage of this law, the Urdu-speaking minority in Bangladesh should have all the rights accorded any other citizen of Bangladesh. Many were able to acquire national identity cards and were able to vote for the first time in national elections, as well as enjoying free movement throughout Bangladesh for the first time. In 2013, the Council on Minorities, led by one of the Urdu speaking community, partnered with the international legal empowerment organisation Namati to provide services to people seeking citizenship documents by training a corps of local paralegals to advocate with the authorities to assert the rights to identity documents.178 The court cases and resulting legal reform were what had enabled this work to establish and enforce the citizenship rights of the Urduspeaking minority. As is often the case, however, discrimination continues in practice, and those living in the camps still struggle to acquire birth certificates and passports. They remain among the most marginalised communities in Bangladesh, and advocacy continues. 172 See Community-Based Practitioner’s Guide, supra n 67. 173 The situation of the Biharis is summarised by Minority Rights Group International here: https://minorityrights.org/minorities/biharis/. See also u focus box D on Kenya. Abid Khan and others v. Government of Bangladesh and others, Writ Petition No. 3831 of 2001, Bangladesh High Court, judgment of 5 May 2003. This case is discussed in Eric Paulsen, “The Citizenship Status of the Urdu-Speakers/Biharis in Bangladesh”, Refugee Survey Quarterly Vol. 25, no. 3 (2006), pp. 54–69, https:// doi.org/10.1093/rsq/hdi0146. 174 175 Sadaqat Khan and others v. Chief Election Commissioner, Bangladesh Election Commission, and others, Writ Petition No. 10129 of 2007, Bangladesh High Court, Judgment of 18 May 2008. The litigation and is impacts are set out in “Good Practices Paper – Action 1: Resolving Existing Major Situations of Statelessness”, (reissued), UNHCR, 2022, https://www.refworld.org/docid/54e75a244.html. Both judgments are available in English and Bengali at: Citizenship Rights of Urdu-speaking Bangladeshis: The Milestone Judgements of the Bangladeshi High Court, Namati and Council of Minorities, 2015, https://namati.org/resources/citizenship-rights-of-urdu-speakingbangladeshis/. 176 For example, Refugees International: Stateless Biharis in Bangladesh: A Humanitarian Nightmare, Refugees International, December 2004, https://www. refworld.org/docid/47a6eeacd.html; Citizens of Nowhere: the Stateless Biharis of Bangladesh, Refugees International, January 2006, https://www.refworld.org/ docid/47a6eba70.html. 177 178 Bremen Donovan “At Work with the Paralegals of Bangladesh: A citizenship sea change for the Urdu-speaking minority in Bangladesh” (blogpost) Namati, 14 January 2015, https://namati.org/news-stories/at-work-with-the-paralegals-of-bangladesh/. U N H C R | L I T I G AT I N G T H E R I G H T T O A N AT I O N A L I T Y: A G U I D E F O R P R AC T I T I O N E R S 53