In Guinea Bissau, on 21 October, the revised draft of the Refugee and Stateless Status Law was approved by the Council of Ministers. UNHCR participated in the drafting of the revised law which includes provisions for the protection of stateless people and the establishment of a statelessness determination procedure. The next step will be the submission of the revised law to the National Assembly for approval. On 20 November, the Parliament of Turkmenistan adopted the Law on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons which establishes a statelessness determination procedure. This step is in line with one of Turkmenistan’s pledges at the 2019 High-Level Segment on Statelessness. In line with Action 7, Ensure birth registration for the prevention of statelessness, in Nigeria, from 15 to 19 November the National Population Commission, with support from UNHCR, organized a birth registration exercise for Bakassi returnees in Cross River State. This population group moved back to their native states after territory was ceded to Cameroon in 2005 and are at risk of statelessness. The exercise resulted in the registration of over 2,300 returnee children who were subsequently issued birth certificates. While the initial age limit was set at five years, it was extended to 17 years after appeals from the returnee community to the National Population Commission. In The Philippines, UNHCR, UNICEF, the local government of Bongao and local partners on the ground conducted a mobile birth registration activity for members of the Sama Bajau – a maritime nomadic ethnic minority - from 27 to 29 October. The births of 287 community members were registered and birth certificates were distributed during a ceremony on 12 December in Bongao, Tawi-Tawi. Parallel to the birth registration exercise, advocacy sessions were conducted with the community to ensure that the Sama Bajau community is aware of the importance of birth documentation. Likewise, in Zamboanga, UNHCR, UNICEF, the local government, and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples undertook a verification activity which resulted in the registration of births of 235 Sama Bajau individuals. The initiatives are implemented under the UNHCR-UNICEF Joint Strategy to End Childhood Statelessness and is in line with the Philippines’ National Action Plan to End Statelessness and its High-Level Segment on Statelessness pledges. The Constitutional Court of Ecuador ruled on 1 December that the registration of births of children born to adolescent mothers should be guaranteed and that regulatory provisions should be adjusted accordingly. The Court examined the situation of children born to Venezuelan mothers whose births were not registered due to a refusal of the civil registry on the basis that the adolescent mothers were not accompanied by a legal representative. A group of school children belonging to group who returned to Bakassi are awaiting birth registration in Bakassi, Nigeria © UNHCR UNHCR > The Campaign to End Statelessness | October – December 2021 Update 9