43. There is no statelessness determination procedure nor statelessness protection status in North Macedonia. Options for many stateless people are limited to applying for asylum or a temporary residence permit at the discretion of the Government, providing only very limited rights. While most cases of statelessness that have been identified in North Macedonia are in situ stateless individuals, the absence of a dedicated statelessness determination procedure prevents stateless refugees and migrants from being identified and accessing protection. 44. Despite the lack of a dedicated statelessness status, temporary or permanent residence permits issued to some stateless people by the Ministry of Interior indicate ‘XXX’ in the "nationality" section, which indicates that these persons have unknown or undetermined nationality. This is considered as proof that they are stateless in the naturalisation procedure, and they may therefore acquire nationality through facilitated naturalisation (which reduces to six years the requirement to have lawful and permanent residence, instead of seven). However, the co-submitting organisations reiterate the importance of adequately identifying and determining statelessness, including through the introduction of an SDP. Recommendations 45. Based on the above information, the co-submitting organisations urge reviewing States to make the following recommendations to North Macedonia: I. Amend the Law on Citizenship to implement a full safeguard to ensure that all children born in North Macedonia who would otherwise be stateless acquire nationality automatically or as soon as possible after birth, regardless of the status or identity of their parents. II. Effectively and comprehensively implement the amended Law on Civil Registry, to ensure that all children are registered immediately after birth regardless of the status or identity of their parents, including by removing any practical barriers to birth registration and addressing discriminatory practices by the authorities. III. Ensure that all stateless people on the territory, including members of Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian communities, have access to fundamental rights in law and in practice without any discrimination, irrespective of documentation or citizenship status, including primary and secondary education, healthcare (including reproductive rights and maternity care for women), work, accommodation, and freedom from violations of rights such as child and early marriage. IV. Continue the effective implementation of the amended Law on Civil Registry and continue to strengthen measures to register persons with unregulated civil status, and provide them with civil documentation and a facilitated route to confirmation or acquisition of nationality. This includes introducing facilitated procedures for the registration of people who were not identified in the Government-led public call. V. Improve the collection and monitoring of disaggregated quantitative data on stateless persons in the Republic of North Macedonia and build the capacity of officials to accurately identify and record statelessness across government agencies at all administrative levels. 11