Implementation of the Global Action Plan In line with Action 2: Ensure that no child is born stateless, UNHCR’s partner Nansen organized a meeting with legal practitioners and lawyers in Belgium, on Article 10 of the Belgium Nationality Code, which provides Belgian nationality to children born in Belgium who would otherwise be statelessness. The meeting discussed the application of this provision to children of Palestinian origin who would otherwise be stateless. Discussions focused on the international legal framework, and Nansen and the European Network on Statelessness made presentations on European practices on the prevention of statelessness and on the practical application of Article 10 by municipalities. In Bulgaria, authorities issued a certificate confirming the Bulgarian citizenship of a child born in the country to stateless parents of Palestinian origin. This case is a good practice which reflects the legal right to nationality of children born on the territory of Bulgaria who would otherwise be stateless. Despite the legal right, administrative hurdles may sometimes hinder the effective implementation in practice. Foundation Access to Right, UNHCR’s partner, provided legal assistance in this case. The father of the child reported that the day his son was able to access Bulgarian nationality was the happiest day of his life. In Algeria, several sensitization sessions were organized targeting vulnerable groups and groups at-risk, to raise awareness on the importance of birth registration and relevant procedure to access birth certificates. Most participants were women and girls. Throughout the sessions, UNHCR identified a number of persons in need of legal assistance and made referrals for support with late birth registration and corrections on birth certificates. In line with Action 6: Grant protection status to stateless migrants and facilitate their naturalization and Action 2, on June 14, the Constitutional Convention of Chile, the government body coordinating the drafting of the new constitution, approved the final text on statelessness prevention and eradication. The draft includes provisions in line with UNHCR and UNICEF’s recommendations to eliminate exceptions to the ius soli provisions in the case of children born to foreigners “in transit”, grant facilities for naturalization for stateless persons and prohibit the loss of nationality if it would render a person stateless. In Georgia, the Government removed the fee for the application for statelessness status and the naturalization fee for recognized stateless persons. Through these measures, Georgia went beyond its 2019 HLS pledge, where it committed to reduce the fee by half. Also in Georgia, the Public Service Development Agency and UNHCR launched a “door to door” campaign to raise awareness on the existing statelessness determination procedure (SDP). The campaign aims to ensure that stateless persons know how to access the SDP so they can be identified and documented. The campaign includes information meetings across the country, organized with local municipalities and regional administrative bodies. Through this campaign, the Government of Georgia fulfilled its pledge made at the 2019 HLS. In the Republic of Congo, on 15 June, the Cabinet Council adopted a draft decree on the creation of a statelessness determination procedure. The draft is now pending final adoption by the Council of Ministers. It is an important step towards ensuring that stateless persons can be recognized and access protection. In the Philippines, the Foundling Recognition and Protection Act was enacted on 7 May. The Act implements Article 2 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and grants Filipino nationality to foundlings found on the territory of the Philippines. With this Act, the Government of the Philippines took an important step towards the implementation of its National Action Plan to End Statelessness by 2024. UNHCR > The Campaign to End Statelessness | April – June 2022 Update 2