Acquisition of nationality through naturalization Kenya • Collective advocacy efforts of civil society organizations, the Catholic Church, UNHCR, and affected persons brought the issue of statelessness in Kenya to the attention of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, which made recommendations to the Government on law reform to address and prevent statelessness. • A study conducted by UNHCR on the nationality status of the stateless Makonde population in Kenya revealed the continuing challenges that this population experiences in attaining nationality. • Petitions and protest marches organized by affected persons gave visibility to the plight of the Makonde which ultimately led to the issuance of a directive by the President to ensure that the Makonde were registered as citizens before the end of 2016. • Waiving onerous evidentiary requirements and application fees, including for late birth registration, removed barriers for many of the Makonde to get registered. • A mobile registration exercise following a one-stop approach allowed the communities to complete all processes required to be registered as citizens of Kenya. Statelessness in Kenya There are different groups of stateless persons in Kenya, mainly Pemba, Galjeel, and persons of Burundian, Congolese, Malawian and Rwandan descent, as well as persons born in Kenya to British Overseas Citizens. With the exception of the Galjeel74 and the Pemba, these groups are stateless owing to the pre-independence migration of their ancestors to Kenya or their own historical migration to Kenya from their country of origin. The vast majority of stateless persons in Kenya today are descendants of these historical migrants. Other groups that are at risk of statelessness include the Nubians, 74 64 The Galjeel were stripped of their Kenyan nationality in 1989. 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