Law or policy reform enabling acquisition of nationality by registration Law or policy reform enabling acquisition of nationality by registration Brazil • Brazilians abroad whose children were stateless because of a 1994 Constitutional Amendment joined together to form a civil society movement, Brasileirinhos Apátridas, to achieve legal reform. The movement used a clearinghouse website to centralize the exchange of experiences and strategies. • A political ally of the movement in the Brazilian Senate drafted an amendment to the Constitution that would reduce and prevent statelessness. To overcome a congressional stalemate, other partners joined the movement to increase political pressure for reform. • Strategic and creative use of the media – both abroad and in Brazil – highlighted the cost of statelessness for the children and their families. • The 2007 Constitutional Amendment not only ensured that statelessness would be prevented from arising in the future, but also included a special transitional provision guaranteeing that all children who had been rendered stateless could acquire Brazilian citizenship and rectify their situation. • After the 2007 Constitutional Amendment was passed, the Brasileirinhos Apátridas movement publicized the new law throughout the diaspora and helped families to ensure their children could acquire Brazilian nationality by registering with Brazilian authorities abroad. • Brazil acceded to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness shortly after amending its Constitution. U N H C R > G P P A C T I O N 1 : R E S O LV I N G E X I S T I N G M A J O R S I T U AT I O N S O F S TAT E L E S S N E S S 31