UNHCR staff discuss procedures for obtaining identity documents with stateless tea plantation workers in Sri Lanka. UNHCR / G. AMARASINGHE IV. Implementing UNHCR’s statelessness mandate 15. UNHCR involvement may be triggered when there are indications that an individual or population could be stateless. Such evidence would include: (1) legislation of relevant States; (2) information on its implementation, including with regard to issuance of documents which constitute proof of nationality; (3) government statements on nationality of the persons in question. UNHCR will generally also need to become involved where there is a risk of future statelessness due to such factors as gaps in legislation, administrative hurdles to acquisition or confirmation of nationality, or State succession. 16. Consistent with the approach adopted in Executive Committee Conclusion No. 106, the following sections set out the principal types of response which can be undertaken with regard to identification, prevention and reduction of statelessness and the protection of stateless persons. A concluding section explains what kind of responses UNHCR would typically undertake to address sensitivities and lack of awareness. a. Identification – “mapping” stateless populations and their situation 17. The Executive Committee has explicitly called on UNHCR to undertake and share research “to promote increased understanding of the nature and scope of the problem of statelessness, to identify stateless populations and to understand reasons which led to statelessness” and to “establish a more formal, systematic methodology for information gathering, (11) updating and sharing” and to publish such data. This requires that identification goes beyond acquisition of basic statistics on the magnitude of statelessness; in fact, it requires a broad “mapping” of the statelessness situation. Identification refers to: • Assessment of the scale of the problem (numbers, geographical spread, etc.); • Establishing the profile of the population affected (demographic composition, including data disaggregated by sex and age); • Determining causes and obstacles to solutions to statelessness (gaps in legislation, administrative practice, etc.); • Uncovering any protection issues faced; and • Identifying all stakeholders. 11 Executive Committee Conclusion No. 106 (LVII) – 2006, paras. (c) and (d). 7