Nationality and Cases of Statelessness in the Middle East and North Africa be addressed. This is because the agency has been mandated by the UN General Assembly to assist states in dealing with statelessness, both through promoting accessions to and implementation of the two UN statelessness convention, as well as through a range of other activities to help states effective address the issue.44 Generally, both within the MENA and around the world, UNHCR is better known for its refugee mandate – and as the “UN Refugee Agency” – however it has taken significant steps over the past few years to operationalise its responsibilities towards statelessness, including through creating a dedicated budget line for its statelessness work and by increasing the level of dedicated staffing on statelessness. In respect of the latter, it is worth noting that as of 2012, a regional statelessness officer has been posted in the MENA region to provide assistance to UNHCR offices in undertaking activities on statelessness. Several of the offices in the region also have a statelessness focal point who is helping to develop, guide and track UNHCR’s work at the national level. Efforts towards the further operationalization of UNHCR’s statelessness mandate and generating increased visibility for the issue generally have been 44 - Some historical background on the development of UNHCR’s mandate, as well as information regarding its areas of activity can be found in UNHCR, Action to address statelessness: A strategy note, March 2010, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4b9e0c3d2.html. 40