On 25 November, during the 8th International Roma Women’s Conference a plenary session was held on the “Consequences of statelessness and lack of ID in times of global crisis”, with a contribution by UNHCR highlighting the impact of statelessness and the lack of birth registration during the pandemic. On 14 and 15 October, in Bulgaria, UNHCR organized the “Conference on Procedures for Granting Status and Protection to Stateless Persons in Bulgaria”, which was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Interior and civil society. The conference was convened to support the government’s efforts to improve the existing statelessness determination procedure. On 28 October, in Montenegro, UNHCR and the Ministry of Interior of Montenegro and the Embassy of France organized the “International Conference on Statelessness: Best Practices in Montenegro and France”. Experts from France, the Western Balkans region and Montenegro discussed, among other topics, procedural issues in statelessness determination procedures and the rights of stateless people. The discussion will contribute to the forthcoming work on the amendments to the Law on Foreigners in Montenegro, aimed at further strengthening the statelessness determination procedure, in line with a pledge made at the 2019 High-Level Segment on Statelessness. On 9 December, in Iceland, UNHCR and the Directorate for Immigration co-convened a seminar in Reykjavik welcoming Iceland’s accession to both UN Conventions on Statelessness and the legislative steps that have been taken to align national legislation with Iceland’s obligations under the treaties. The event was attended by legal practitioners from Iceland and government representatives from Georgia and France, who shared their expertise and exchanged good practices in the implementation of statelessness determination procedures. On 3 December, UNHCR and its NGO partner Vasa Prava BiH organized a roundtable in Sarajevo for free legal aid providers in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The objective of the roundtable was to improve the provision and sustainability of free legal aid to stateless persons and persons at risk of statelessness, and to close remaining cases of stateless individuals. From 28 October to 16 November, also in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Vasa Prava BiH and UNHCR organized a series of workshops to familiarize staff of the Ministry of Interior, legal aid offices, centers for social work and civil registrars with a recently adopted procedure which allows courts to determine the place and time of a child’s birth. The new procedure will facilitate the issuance of birth certificates and will allow the government to accelerate its efforts to resolve the remaining cases of people at risk of statelessness in the country. Vasa Prava BiH and UNHCR also organized a seminar for judges of the courts on the implementation of the law on 10 December, which builds on two previous seminars. On 29 November, in Croatia, UNHCR organized a virtual conference marking the 60th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the 10th anniversary of Croatia’s accession to the Convention. Participants took stock of achievements and discussed the way forward in preventing and eradicating statelessness. Speakers included the Deputy Prime Minister and the Head of the Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights. Key recommendations emanating from the conference related to strengthening a multi-sectoral approach in addressing statelessness and establishing a dedicated statelessness determination procedure. On 8 October, in Italy, UNHCR launched a partnership with three Italian Universities in Naples, Rome and Turin to establish statelessness legal clinics. The project entails the involvement of nine law students who, with the support of qualified lawyers, provide legal advice to stateless people to ensure they benefit from protection and access to rights and services. UNHCR > The Campaign to End Statelessness | October – December 2021 Update 5