born in healthcare institutions and the Instruction on keeping civil registers and civil register forms, which mandate that parents must be in possession of birth certificates and personal identity cards when notifying the birth of a child. • More training is needed for civil servants who come into direct contact with persons at risk of statelessness to educate them about the specific characteristics of this group and avoid violation of the principles of good governance, such as refusing applications orally or requiring them to obtain documents that the authorities are able to secure via official channels. • It is especially important to continue training and connecting all civil servants involved in these issues. There is a space to work more at the local level to build capacity amongst registrars, police officers, and social workers, as well as staff of free legal aid services. Local trustees for refugees and migrations, who are in direct daily contact with individuals returning to Serbia under readmission agreements and have problems in obtaining personal documents, should also be included in these trainings. The Survey has shown that many persons at risk of statelessness have no permanent residence registration, as well as that individuals from Kosovo and Metohija are more likely to face issues with residence registration. Every Serbian national must be allowed to register their permanent residence whilst implementing regulations consistently. Where a person is not able to register their home address as their residence, they must be allowed to use the CSW address or that of their spouse or parent. It is also necessary to address the impact of the Government Order on assessing compliance with requirements for issuance of passports to individuals in the territory of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija on the ability to register residence in their current place of residence, and so facilitate registration of residence for persons from Kosovo and Metohija. • • The Survey has shown an increase of persons who do not posses an ID card among the RAE population living in informal settlements. The most frequent reasons cited for this are lack of resources and inability to pay the taxes related to issuance of the document that all the Serbian citizens over 16 are obliged to have. Thus, a recommendation to review the possibility of waiving the obligation to pay for technical processing of identification cards and the costs of identity card forms for the socially vulnerable categories. • It is particularly important to continue raising awareness of the RAE population about the importance of possessing all documents. Apart from motivating the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian community, fieldwork by Roma co-ordinators and Roma health mediators is also crucial as they often initiate procedures. • Provision of free legal aid by local services should be simplified and better adapted to the needs of end beneficiaries. In order to reach the most vulnerable persons in need of free legal aid, it is very important that specialised NGOs continue operating in this field. This would address the absurd situation where legally invisible persons, some of whom are illiterate, need legal counsel to access free legal aid, due to either the complexity of these procedures or the fact that some applications must be made in writing and on specific forms. PERSONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS IN SERBIA OVERVIEW OF CURRENT SITUATION AND THE WAY FORWARD 57