The Campaign to End Statelessness April 2018 Update #IBelong Join us in our Campaign to End Statelessness Mobilizing governments and civil society On 28 February, the League of Arab States (LAS) convened a Ministerial meeting in Tunis on “Belonging and Legal Identity” under the patronage of the President of Tunisia. The meeting resulted in the adoption of the Declaration on Belonging and Legal Identity (Arabic), which builds on positive developments in 2016 and 2017. The Declaration calls for equal nationality rights for women and for all children to be able to enjoy their right to a legal identity. On the same occasion, LAS launched a new “I am Here” Campaign aimed at documenting positive developments related to the implementation of the Declaration. On 19-20 February, a Consultation Meeting of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Regional Contribution to the Global Compact on Refugees took place in Brazil. The purpose of the meeting was to present a preliminary report on progress during the first three years of implementation of the Brazil Plan of Action. The meeting concluded with the adoption of the document, “100 points of Brasilia”, which includes nine regional good practices on statelessness. Among these are procedures to determine statelessness and practices for the adoption of regulations to ensure the acquisition of nationality by children who would otherwise be stateless. In commemoration of International Women’s Day, an updated Background Note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness 2018 was published on 8 March by UNHCR. Progress in the last year included law reform in Sierra Leone, where women can now confer nationality to their children on an equal basis as men, as well as political commitments at the regional level by the members of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region and of the League of Arab States, as mentioned above. On 13-16 March in South Africa, a second meeting of experts from Member States of the African Union took place to discuss and review the “AU Draft Protocol on Nationality and Statelessness”. A third meeting of experts is expected to take place later in 2018 to finalize the draft Protocol, in preparation for submission to the AU’s Special Technical Committees on Migration and on Legal and Judicial Affairs. After review by the Technical Committees, the Protocol is expected to move forward for adoption by African Union Member States. 1