Amb. Julius K. Bitok, Principal Secretary State Department for Citizen Services, joins Pemba community women in dance during the launch of the Kenyan citizenship confirmation exercise in Kwale. ©UNHCR/Charity Nzomo The Government of Kenya formally recognized the Pemba as an ethnic community and therefore citizens of Kenya through a Gazette Notice on 30 January. It instructs authorities to recognize the Pemba community and issue them with the necessary identification documents. As a result of this proclamation, members of the Pemba community will be able to obtain Kenyan IDs, which serves as proof of their nationality and allows them to access public and social services. The proclamation follows a December announcement by the President that their plight needs to be resolved. The Government organized a gathering with the Pemba community in Kilifi on 1 March to launch the procedure to confirm their nationality and issue proof of Kenyan citizenship. The event was organized in partnership with UNHCR and the NGO Haki Centre. The application process is currently ongoing. During an annual meeting of the Working Group on Statelessness in Azerbaijan in February, the State Migration Service reported that it had confirmed the citizenship of 6,300 persons at risk of statelessness in Azerbaijan since 2015. Working Group members agreed to take further action to reach out to the remaining documented stateless persons and finalize their naturalization by the end of 2023. A member fo the Pemba community who was able to access the Kenya Citizenship confirmation process. ©UNHCR/Charity Nzomo Action 2: Ensure that no child is born stateless In Chile, the Legal Clinic of Alberto Hurtado University’s Nationality Project identified and provided legal assistance to 18 children at risk of statelessness, including children born in Chile to migrants with an irregular migratory status. Due to a flawed interpretation of nationality requirements in the Chilean Constitution, children born to migrants with an irregular migratory status are considered “foreigners in transit” which excludes them from Chilean nationality. This has been corrected by a Directive of the Ministry of Interior, but many children remain unrecognized. Chile is in the process of a constitutional review, which is a unique opportunity UNHCR > The Campaign to End Statelessness | January – March 2023 Update 3