risk of statelessness. For example, legal analysis may uncover that women cannot transmit nationality to their children when they are born outside the territory of the state – as is the case under Malaysian law.59 This finding enables the identification of a population that is at risk of statelessness: children born abroad to Malaysian mothers. With this information as a starting point, studies can be conducted to discover the size and profile of this at risk population and to identify actual cases of statelessness. Legal analysis can also help to uncover protection concerns by establishing whether access to certain rights is barred to stateless persons. If property ownership or the practicing of certain professions are areas reserved to citizens under the law, this can negatively affect the protection situation of the stateless. Alternatively, legal analysis may reveal an opportunity to resolve an existing situation of statelessness for example, by revealing that stateless persons enjoy access to facilitated naturalisation. In view of the cross-border dimension that statelessness may have, a regional approach to background research and legal analysis can be even more informative. A comparative analysis of nationality policy that incorporates, for instance, both the sending and receiving states of migrants can shed light on which persons are at risk of being left stateless. A number of such comparative exercises from different parts of the world have illustrated the value of this technique in making nationality policy more transparent and comparable and identifying good practices.60 These studies help to guide further policy-making while providing inspiration for similar research processes elsewhere. 3.2 Extracting information from population data sources Certain government planning tools can also be tapped for information about statelessness. A periodic population census, for instance, may capture data about access to nationality which can be used to identify stateless or at risk populations. Other population data sources can also be helpful, such as birth, marriage and household registers or electoral lists. Analysing the information contained within existing data collections is a simple and cost-effective way of starting to map the issue on the ground. Some form of preliminary background research, along the lines described above, will enable an understanding of what the data actually shows in terms of stateless or at risk populations. In fact, by first establishing potential areas of concern through a background study or legal analysis, future data collections can be tailored to ensure that the details gathered are even more informative to the identification of statelessness. Thus, the information logged as part of civil registration procedures can be augmented with data collection geared specifically to detect problems of statelessness. Introducing relevant questions into a population census will facilitate the quantification of the statelessness situation on a state’s territory. Most ASEAN states conduct a census on a ten-yearly cycle. The so-called “2010 round” of population and household censuses is now underway.61 Regional meetings have been held between governments’ statistical divisions, including specifically in the context of this census round, to exchange good practices.62 To facilitate the identification of statelessness through population census and other data collections, this issue could be discussed in the development of the next round of population censuses through a devoted regional workshop. A number of UN agencies, including UNHCR, UN Population Fund and UN Statistics Division, can provide technical assistance with such an exercise as well as direct support to individual states.63 59 Section 1 (b), (c) and (d), Part II of the Second Schedule, Federal Constitution of Malaysia 1957 (as amended). One example of a regional study is the compilation and analysis of nationality law in Africa completed by the Open Society Initiative in 2009. See B. Manby, Citizenship Law in Africa. A comparative study, Open Society Initiative, 2009. A global questionnaire on statelessness conducted by UNHCR in 2004 similarly helped to trace trends in nationality policy and areas of concern. It also looked at state policy for the protection of stateless persons. Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines were the only countries from the ASEAN region to submit information in response to this questionnaire. See UNHCR, Final report concerning the questionnaire on statelessness pursuant to the Agenda for Protection, March 2004. See also research conducted by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee on the protection regime for stateless persons in Central Europe, G. Gyulai, Forgotten without reason. Protection of non-refugee stateless persons in Central Europe, Hungarian Helsinki Committee, 2007. 61 For the “2010 round” each state undertakes a data collection exercise between 2005 and 2014 62 Annual consultative meetings have been held by the ASEAN Heads of Statistical Offices. In 2006, ASEAN and UN Statistics Division also held an ASEAN meeting on the 2010 round of population and housing census in Siem Reap, Cambodia. 63 UNHCR’s Executive Committee has called upon the agency to “continue to work with interested Governments to engage in or to renew efforts to identify stateless populations and populations with undetermined nationality residing in their territory, in 60 9