Lankan citizenship, thereby renouncing any possible outstanding right to Indian citizenship. This was required because dual nationality is not permitted by India. These special declarations were to be countersigned by the Commissioner for the Registration of Persons of Indian Origin in Colombo and an acknowledgement of this approval returned to the individual concerned. Hill Tamil nationality campaign The successful reduction of statelessness among the Hill Tamils was due not only to the adoption of laws, such as the 2003 Act, but also to the readiness of the Sri Lankan Government to work with UNHCR, the CWC and Hill Tamil community organizers. Pursuant to its statelessness mandate, UNHCR approached the Sri Lankan Government while the legislative reform process was underway, offering technical as well as logistical assistance to provide citizenship documentation to Hill Tamils. Together, the CWC and UNHCR designed a nationality campaign, including a scheme to deploy volunteers to the plantation areas to collect applications for citizenship documentation. This plan was approved by the Sri Lankan Government and funded in large part by UNHCR. UNHCR and the CWC deployed 50 mobile clinics to tea plantation areas, distributing and collecting the relevant forms from Hill Tamils who wished to make either a “general declaration” or “special declaration” for the appropriate counter-signature or acknowledgement of the Government. The campaign began in late November 2003, with a nationwide media drive using the major Tamil-, Sinhala- and English-language newspapers as well as television and radio to explain the law and inform the public about the mobile clinics. UNHCR and the CWC also trained 500 volunteers who had signed up to assist with the mobile clinics. A oneday workshop was held to brief them on statelessness, the history of Sri Lankan nationality laws since 1948 and the eligibility criteria for citizenship under the 2003 Act. The volunteers were also coached on how to answer the questions that would commonly arise and complete and register the relevant forms. Teams of at least six volunteers, each with a designated leader, were established for each of the 50 mobile clinics. Each team leader had to be fluent in Sinhala and Tamil, as well as basic English, and received special training. The 10-day nationality campaign began on 1 December 2003 with the opening of the 50 mobile clinics in teaplantation areas. The campaign encountered some challenges in producing the large number of application forms needed and in ensuring that photocopying, stamping and registration systems were fully functional at all the 50 mobile clinics. Another problem was the refusal of some tea-plantation managers to allow their workers to leave their jobs to attend the mobile clinics. To reach as many of these workers as possible, campaign volunteers set up clinics on the outskirts of plantations and worked overtime, including on weekends. The nationality campaign was successful in processing, registering and providing documentation confirming the Sri Lankan citizenship of 190,000 Hill Tamils. Of this number, 72,000 were Hill Tamils with expired Indian passports who had to make a “special declaration”, facilitated by the nationality campaign. The rest were Hill Tamils who had never previously possessed any citizenship. Although extremely effective, the December 2003 campaign was unable to deploy to all tea plantation areas. It was also unable to reach areas in northern and eastern Sri Lanka to approach the approximately 10,000 Hill Tamils who had been displaced from the plantation areas. To remedy this, UNHCR launched a supplementary small-scale nationality campaign in the north and east of Sri Lanka in 2004. This followed the successful model of first launching a media campaign and training volunteers before deploying mobile units in government offices in designated areas to reach the concerned individuals. Approximately 700 Hill Tamils were registered and granted proof of nationality under this programme before the December 2004 tsunami halted the operation. 7 CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS