Furthermore, in 2006 UNHCR deployed a protection officer through the International Rescue Committee’s Surge deployment programme to work full-time on the statelessness situation in Bangladesh. This deployee conducted a legal analysis of the citizenship status of the Urdu-speaking community, made recommendations on policy reform that would permit the Government to recognize the Urdu-speakers as Bangladeshi citizens, and collaborated with community-based NGOs to coordinate advocacy strategies. For example, UNHCR partnered with the NGO Al-Falah14 to conduct a survey of Urdu-speakers living in camps in order to tailor its recommendations to address the challenges these communities face. Even before the 2008 Khan case was decided, the Government of Bangladesh had agreed (in September 2007) to give citizenship to Urdu-speaking Biharis born after 1971 or who were under 18 years of age on the date Bangladesh became an independent nation. In November 2007, a group of 23 eminent academics, journalists, lawyers and human rights activists made a joint statement urging the Government to offer citizenship rights in line with the country’s Constitution to all Urdu-speakers in the camps. International advocacy organizations, such as Refugees International15 and Minority Rights Group International16 issued reports on the statelessness status of the Urdu-speakers, contributing to international awareness of the problem and increasing the pressure to resolve it. 2008 voter registration and national identity card distribution The decision in the 2008 Khan case provided the final impetus for the transitional Bangladeshi Government to take concrete measures to recognize Urdu-speakers as Bangladeshi citizens. In August 2008, the Election Commission of Bangladesh began a campaign to register the Urdu-speaking communities in the camps and settlements around Bangladesh. Election Commission enumerators took voter registration forms door to door to reach as much of the Urdu-speaking community as possible. In this process, Urdu-speakers also acquired national identification cards, confirming alongside their voter registration their status as Bangladeshi citizens and their entitlement to State social services.17 14 For more information about Al-Falah’s work, see their website, available at: http://www.alfalah.com.bd. 15 An overview of Refugees International’s work on the Urdu-speakers of Bangladesh is available here: http://www.refugeesinternational.org/where-we-work/asia/bangladesh; of particular note is the Refugees International report, Citizens of Nowhere: The Stateless Biharis of Bangladesh, available at: http://www.refugeesinternational.org/policy/in-depth-report/citizens-nowhere-stateless-biharis-bangladesh. 16 Minority Rights Group International, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Bangladesh: Biharis, 2008, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49749d58c.html. 17 By the end of 2014, in line with the court judgments and the Government’s change of policy, the overwhelming majority of the Urdu-speakers residing in Geneva Camp had acquired national identity cards or other documentation confirming their status as Bangladeshi citizens. A minority still consider themselves to be “Stranded Pakistanis” and have chosen not to apply for national identity cards despite their legal entitlement. The Council on Minorities, a community organization, reported that a small number of Geneva camp residents had faced difficulties in obtaining Bangladeshi passports or birth certificates for their children. This appears to be a localized problem unrelated to citizenship status and is not reported to be faced by members of the community who live outside Geneva Camp or in camps or settlements outside Dhaka. See Council of Minorities and Namati, Realising Citizenship Rights: Paralegals in the Urdu-Speaking Community in Bangladesh, 2014. 12 CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS