17. Among the displaced populations, ethnic minorities, including indigenous peoples and Afro Colombians, have been disparately affected by the impact of the armed conflict due to long-standing structural discrimination. They are therefore at a heightened risk of statelessness. 18. Returnees: Colombians who fled the decades-long internal conflict and who have now returned to Colombia face the obstacle of having to secure confirmation of their Colombian nationality. As UNHCR points out, ‘a significant number of Colombians born in neighbouring countries whose births were not registered due to their irregular migration status’ are now ‘in need of confirming their Colombian nationality.’24 Children born to returnees who have been unable to confirm their Colombian nationality are obviously at a heightened risk of statelessness. It is important to note however, that the Colombian government has demonstrated flexibility in the evidentiary requirements required of Colombian returnees from Venezuela.25 19. Indigenous Peoples: Indigenous Colombians often face a triple threat of being at risk of statelessness. Many groups live in remote or rural areas where access to civil registry services is lacking and they have also been the primary group affected by the decades-long armed conflict (rendering them the largest IDP group). Moreover, language and cultural barriers often hinder their ability to secure the necessary Colombian identity and nationality documents, an issue that ‘the country has not specifically addressed.’26 Various reports describe how the Wayuu indigenous community, who live on the border between Colombia and Venezuela, is particularly affected by lack of proof of Colombian citizenship, undermining their exercise of their right to nationality.27 20. Rural populations: Rural populations often lack the necessary institutional resources to access civil registries that could provide confirmation of their Colombian nationality. Moreover, civil registry officers posted in these areas often lack the necessary training to implement Colombian nationality law and policies and are also insufficiently trained on the issue of statelessness. That the Colombian State has been unable to provide sufficient institutional resources in this regard demonstrates that it has not yet met the recommendation made by the Czech Republic during the First Cycle that it ‘Adopt measures ensuring effective national birth registration, including through programmes of mobile registration units.’ 21. Undocumented Migrants: Despite the commendable flexibility the Colombian State has demonstrated in its acceptance of a range of residency statuses to provide proof of domicile, thereby allowing for the passing of nationality via jus soli, children born of undocumented parents are at risk of being born into statelessness. Children born on Colombian soil to parents in an irregular migratory situation do not have automatic access to Colombian nationality. A prime example of a group that has been affected by this protection gap is children born of undocumented Cubans on Colombian territory. Cubans in an irregular migratory position are the largest population of such migrants in Colombia. As Cubans in an irregular migratory situation, they do not have the permission of the Cuban government to be overseas. They therefore have problems in accessing Cuban nationality via descent. Since they are born in Colombia to parents without a residency permit, they are also unable to secure Colombian citizenship via jus soli. They are consequently at a heightened risk of statelessness.28 24 Quote from UNCHR’s 2017 Colombia Populations Trends, available at: http://reporting.unhcr.org/node/2542?y=2017#year. Open Society Justice Initiative (2017), Born in the Americas: The Promise and Practice of Nationality Laws in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia, p. 74. 26 Ibid., p. 77. 27 Ibid., p. 78; see also OSJI (2017), ‘On Venezuela’s Border with Colombia, the Need for Papers Threatens an Indigenous Way of Life,’ https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/venezuelas-border-colombia-need-papers-threatens-indigenous-way-life. 28 For more information on the case of children born of Cubans in an irregular migratory situation, refer to Red ANA’s webinar on statelessness in Colombia (fn. 22). 25 5