The resolution also asks UNHCR “to provide relevant technical and advisory services pertaining to the preparation and implementation of nationality legislation to interested States.” In the same resolution, the General Assembly “calls upon States to adopt nationality legislation with a view to reducing statelessness, consistent with fundamental principles of international law, in particular by preventing arbitrary deprivation of nationality, and by eliminating provisions which permit the renunciation of a nationality without the prior possession or acquisition of another nationality, while at the same time recognizing the right of the State to establish laws governing the acquisition, renunciation or loss of nationality.” Statelessness was acknowledged as one of the root causes of displacement and refugee flows in the Agenda for Protection, which was endorsed by UNHCR’s Executive Committee (Conclusion No. 92 [LIII] a) and welcomed by the UN General Assembly in 2002. The Agenda for Protection, the culmination of UNHCR’s Global Consultations on International Protection, consists of a statement of goals and objectives and an inventory of actions to reinforce the international protection of refugees. It reflects a wide cross-section of concerns and recommendations of States, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs, and refugees and serves as a guide for concrete action. Addressing issues of statelessness is recognized as a way of helping to avoid forced displacement and ensuring the realization of the right to a nationality. Concerned about the unacceptably high number of stateless persons whose cases have been languishing unresolved for many years, in 2004, ExCom called upon UNHCR to play a more active role in working with the relevant States to find solutions to those situations. ExCom also confirmed the need for UNHCR to continue to provide technical and operational support to States. More recently, in its 2005 Resolution on Human Rights and Arbitrary Deprivation of Nationality (E/CN.4/2005/L.58), the UN Commission on Human Rights encouraged UNHCR to continue collecting information on this issue and addressing the problem of deprivation of nationality both in its reports and its activities in the field. What does UNHCR do to address the problem of statelessness? UNHCR assists governments in drafting and implementing nationality legislation and provides training for government officials. Between 2003 and 2005, UNHCR worked with more than 40 States to help enact new nationality laws and to revise older legislation. UNHCR offered comments on constitutional provisions on nationality legislation for States in which large segments of the population are either stateless or have an undetermined nationality. UNHCR works with parliaments to ensure that nationality legislation does not lead to displacement and does not contain provisions that may create statelessness. (See Annex 4 for a list of UNHCR offices around the world.) As planned in the Agenda for Protection, UNHCR launched the first global survey on steps taken by UN member States to reduce statelessness and to meet the protection needs of stateless persons. The survey found that no region in the world is free from statelessness and that serious legislative and policy gaps remain, at both the international and the 44