to align legal provisions with international standards. Legal assistance was also provided to children born in Colombia to Venezuelan parents who require confirmation of their Venezuelan nationality. In Côte d’Ivoire, the NGO Association des Femmes Juristes de Côte d’Ivoire provided assistance to 36 abandoned children to obtain civil and nationality documentation. A 2019 circular from the Ministry of Justice made it possible for foundlings to be recognized as Ivorians. Amendments to the Law on Citizenship of the Kyrgyz Republic came into effect on 28 February which brought several improvements. These include aligning the definition of a stateless person with international standards, providing guarantees that children born in the country are considered Kyrgyz citizens if they would otherwise be stateless, and removal of obstacles to acquire nationality such as the need to have a permanent residence permit. The adoption of the law is also relevant to Action 6. Action 3: Remove gender discrimination from nationality laws The Nigerian Minister of Interior reinstated the issuance of Temporary Resident Permits to foreign spouses of Nigerian women in October 2022. This measure is a temporary solution until legal reforms are put in place to ensure that foreign spouses of Nigerian women can acquire citizenship by registration, like foreign spouses of Nigerian men can. Once the 10th Assembly is reconstituted, a bill will be submitted. Benin’s national assembly passed a new nationality law in November that was published in the official gazette in February this year. The law removes gender-discriminatory provisions and introduces jus soli as a means to acquire nationality, fulfilling Benin’s pledge at the High-Level Segment on statelessness. Benin was not included in the list of 24 countries with discriminatory nationality laws that could potentially result in statelessness. Action 6: Grant protection status to stateless migrants and facilitate their naturalization The Kazakh Migration Service Office of the Turkestan Region Police Department, in collaboration with UNHCR partner «Sana Sezim”, conducted mobile consultations in five districts of the Turkestan region to identify, counsel, and refer 89 individuals with undetermined nationality to statelessness authorities to have their nationality confirmed. This activity is in line with a pledge made at the 2019 High-Level Segment on Statelessness. The President of Nigeria signed into law the “National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons Act” on 15 February. The Act aims to protect stateless migrants by establishing statelessness determination procedures, granting them status, and facilitating appropriate solutions, in line with the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. This step is in line with the National Action Plan to Eradicate Statelessness in Nigeria. Action 7: Ensure birth registration for the prevention of statelessness The Dominican Republic adopted the Organic Law of Civil Status Acts (Ley orgánica de los Actos del Estado Civil) in January which introduces significant improvements to the country’s registry and identity system. Among the most important changes are the creation of the National Civil Status System, which will allow for both in-person and electronic delivery of civil registration services, and the elimination of a confirmation process for birth certificates and late birth registration after 60 days, which had mostly affected people living in rural communities. UNHCR > The Campaign to End Statelessness | January – March 2023 Update 4