DESK REVIEW ON POPULATIONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS on “Implementing the Outcome of the High-level Meeting on the Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific;” and the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific where it was agreed to declare the years 2015-2024 as the “Asian and Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Decade, for 2015 to 2024.” Through this Declaration, “[a]ll agencies and instrumentalities of the National Government and local government units, including government-owned or -controlled corporations, in consultation with the private sector, development partners and the citizenry, are hereby enjoined to actively support all activities and programs relevant to the ‘Get everyone in the Picture’ initiative.”77 Furthermore, Chapters 11 and 21 of the Philippine Development Plan indicate the Government’s commitment to protect persons of concern,78 focusing on ensuring access to services, establishment of a database management system, and enhancement of the policy and legislative framework.79 As part of the efforts to address the risks of statelessness among Persons of Indonesian Descent, advocacy meetings with local civil registrars were held to facilitate the delayed birth registration of the population. Through this initiative, local government units have issued resolutions waiving fees for birth registration and administrative corrections. UNHCR and UNICEF have developed a joint strategy for addressing childhood statelessness in the Philippines, as a part of the global strategy.80 This strategy aims to improve birth registration and support law reform and implementation, including accession to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness to ensure safeguards against childhood statelessness are in place. The strategy has already supported a pilot birth registration project for the Sama Bajau, spearheaded by the Zamboanga City local government and supported by UNHCR and UNICEF.81 Although the national average for birth registration in the Philippines is relatively high, less developed areas and specific populations may have much lower registration. Obstacles remain for systematic implementation of birth registration that include a lack of understanding about the value of registration and negative perceptions or misperceptions about registration, difficulties in establishing identity for persons who lack the required evidence, access issues due to the distance and isolation of remote or displaced populations, armed conflict and insecurity in the area, and poverty and the costs associated with registration. Presidential Proclamation No. 1106, Declaring the Years 2015 to 2024 as Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Decade, available at: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2015/08aug/20150820-PROC-1106-BSA.pdf. 77 Persons of concern (POC) are those whose protection and needs are of concern to the State. They generally refer to refugees, asylum seekers, stateless applicants, stateless persons, and populations at risk of statelessness. 78 Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, available at: http://pdp.neda.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/PrepublicationUpdated-PDP-2017-2022-as-of-Feb-10.pdf (updated 10 February 2021). 79 80 See details of the Joint Strategy at: https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/unicef-unhcr-coalition-child-right-nationality/ UNHCR and UNICEF support Zamboanga City in pilot birth registration project for Sama Bajaus, 10 December 2019, available at: https://www.unhcr.org/ph/17097-unhcr-unicef-zamboanga-birth-registration-sama-bajaus.html 81 UNHCR / April 2021 29