simplifying the process; removing some fees for application; sensitising communities on the importance of birth registration; and trialling mobile birth registration, which speeds up the process and may enable access to hard-to-reach, rural populations. 49. In 2020 the government in collaboration with Norwegian Refugee Council conducted a birth registration drive for refugee children in Nduta refugee camp, whereby more than 20, 0000 refugee children were registered. 50. Recently, the government introduced an initiative where Mother Child Health Centres can issue handwritten birth certificates free of charge, immediately following birth. These initiatives are being piloted in less than half of the country - 11 out of the 26 regions - as in some of the large regions, the distances to the district offices are too far and present a challenge. Birth registration procedures are easy but include fees based on how much time has passed between the child’s birth and their registration. For many Tanzanians in rural areas who cannot access free, handwritten birth certificates, fees continue to present barriers to accessing birth registration. Protracted refugee situations causing statelessness 51. Since the 1970s, many refugees were granted asylum in Tanzania, with second and even third generations being born in the territory. The majority of these refugees are 1972 Burundian refugees who have been in the country for more than four decades. In 2010, the Tanzanian government naturalised 162,156 refugees. However, not all were naturalised, and many were not able to lodge their applications, and were even unaware of the process. These refugees are in protracted refugee situations today and are at risk of statelessness as they have lost ties with their countries of origin and live in uncertainty since the government has halted the naturalisation of this population. 52. Another community at risk of statelessness are the Somali Bantu (Zigua community), who fled from Somalia to Tanzania in the early 1990s. This community sought asylum and were granted refugee status, and designated to live in refugee camps, then in settlements. Most of these refugees trace their origins back to the Zigua tribe who originate from Tanzania, whose ancestors left the country to Somalia almost two centuries ago during the slave trade. In the early nineties, when civil war broke out in Somalia, it pushed many Somalis to flee their country, reversing the path their ancestors had taken. In 2014, 3000 Somali Bantu refugees were naturalised. While many certificates have been offered to those who applied to naturalise, some cases are pending, and some have been rejected.32 Those who have not been naturalised are at permanent risk of becoming stateless. 32 GLOBALCIT, ‘Report on Citizenship Law: Tanzania’ (April 2020), p. 12. 11