JANUARY – JUNE 2025
and Nord-Est Departments, reaching remote and
violence-affected areas. Working with partners,
Citoyenne pour les Droits de l’Homme (ICDH)
and Organisation des Citoyens pour une Nouvelle
Haïti (OCNH) efforts included legal aid, civil
registry rehabilitation, and awareness-raising on
the right to legal identity. These initiatives are
strengthening Haiti’s civil documentation system
and reducing statelessness risks.
UNHCR works in Haiti with local partners, including NGOs and
community groups to raise awareness on gender-based
violence and HIV. Also, providing legal assistance at the
borders. ©UNHCR/Juan Pablo Terminello
In Afghanistan, UNHCR and its partners
identified and registered 2,476 individuals
needing legal aid and cash assistance to facilitate
the acquisition of civil documentation, primarily
identity cards and birth certificates. This
contributes to the prevention of statelessness,
particularly among returnees who have returned
with children born abroad who lack any form of
civil documentation.
In Iran, in January, the Civil registration
organization and the Ministry of health official
launched a digital birth registration system,
introducing two platforms (SAHIM and HODA) for
e-registration and national ID verification. While
the system improves access and efficiency for
Iranian citizens, its applicability to foreign
nationals and undocumented persons remains
unclear.
From January to June, UNHCR and partners
advanced the Japan-funded birth registration
initiative in the Bangsamoro Region and Sulu in
the Philippines. In its second phase, the project
UNHCR / DIP Statelessness Section
engaged 14 municipalities, trained 500 partners,
and helped 4,200 people access birth
registration.
Activities
included
mobile
registration, and youth and religious leader-led
advocacy, aligning with the Philippines’ National
Action Plan to end statelessness.
The “My Name” campaign in Cameroon,
launched following the 2024 National Forum of
Mayors and supported by the National civil status
registration office (BUNEC), the Ministry of
Decentralization and Local Development and
UNICEF, aimed to boost birth registration through
digital solutions, community engagement, and
strengthened civil status systems. Concluding in
June, the campaign resulted in 367 of 374
communes
adopting
digital
registration,
improving children’s access to legal identity. It
also contributed to the adoption of the new Law
on Civil Status Registration.
Action 8. Issue nationality documentation to
those with entitlement to it to prevent
statelessness
In early 2025, the Supreme Court of Chile
reviewed five cases of individuals born in Chile
and registered as HET (hijo de extranjero
transeúnte - child of a foreigner in transit) due to
their parents’ migrator status; three were
recognized as Chilean nationals, while two
remain pending. The project also identified over
30 cases for legal representation involving
children at risk of statelessness, including 10 HET
cases in Chile and 20 children born in Colombia
to Venezuelan parents.
In June, Ukraine’s Ombudsman and Council of
Europe presented results of a pilot project aiming
to develop legal mechanisms to simplify access
to documentation for persons from the Roma
national minority. UNHCR has supported this
project, and with the help of its partner, the
National Education Expertise and Knowledge
Advancement Foundation (NEEKA), helped 159
people confirm nationality and get passports, and
83 persons to obtain birth certificates.
Recommendations were made to the relevant
authorities to further improve access to
documentation.
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