© UNHCR/Roger Arnold “The future is clearer and brighter. It’s as if you are giving us a kerosene light to brighten our path and give us hope!” Niba’s grandmother, Wanita, a 70 year old of Sama Bajau ethnicity, said this about the pilot project to register the births of 1,500 people. Niba, 19, pictured here with her son Gabriel, 4 months, are Sama Bajau, an indigenous and nomadic ethnic minority who live mostly on the sea in the southern Philippines and often cross borders into Malaysia and Indonesia. They have been without documentation for decades, and Niba’s family hopes that the registration process, beginning September 2019, will allow younger generations of Sama Bajau to go to school. 32 U N H C R > H I G H - L E V E L S E G M E N T O N S T A T E L E S S N E S S : R E S U LT S A N D H I G H L I G H T S