Law or policy reform enabling automatic acquisition of nationality with its UN sister agencies and the diplomatic community in Bangladesh to highlight the plight of the stateless Urdu-speakers. This resulted in a coordinated UN interagency approach designed to assist the Urdu-speaking community. The UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative gave priority to assisting the stateless Urdu-speakers in the UN Country Team’s goals for 2005 and 2006. Meanwhile, UNHabitat and UNICEF implemented projects to improve housing and child protection among Urdu-speaking communities. Furthermore, in 2006 UNHCR deployed a protection officer through the International Rescue Committee’s Surge deployment program to work full-time on the statelessness situation in Bangladesh. The deployee conducted a legal analysis of the citizenship status of the Urdu-speaking community, made recommendations on policy reform that would permit the Government to recognize the Urdu-speakers as Bangladeshi citizens, and collaborated with community-based NGOs to coordinate advocacy strategies. For example, UNHCR partnered with the NGO Al-Falah16 to conduct a survey of Urdu-speakers living in camps in order to tailor its recommendations to address the challenges these communities face. Even before the 2008 Khan case was decided, the Government of Bangladesh had agreed (in September 2007) to give citizenship to Urdu-speaking Biharis born after 1971 or who were under 18 years of age on the date that Bangladesh became an independent nation. In November 2007, a group of 23 eminent academics, journalists, lawyers and human rights activists made a joint statement urging the Government to offer citizenship rights in line with the country’s Constitution to all Urdu-speakers in the camps. International advocacy organizations, such as Refugees International17 and Minority Rights Group International18 issued reports on the statelessness status of the Urdu-speakers, contributing to international awareness of the problem and increasing the pressure to resolve it. 16 17 18 For more information about Al-Falah’s work, see their website, available at: http://www.alfalah.com.bd An overview of Refugees International’s work on the Urdu-speakers of Bangladesh is available here: http://www. refugeesinternational.org/where-we-work/asia/bangladesh; of particular note is the Refugees International report, Citizens of Nowhere: The Stateless Biharis of Bangladesh, available at: http://www.refugeesinternational.org/policy/in-depth-report/ citizens-nowhere-stateless-biharis-bangladesh Minority Rights Group International, World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Bangladesh: Biharis, 2008, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/49749d58c.html 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 19