Law or policy reform enabling automatic acquisition of nationality 1. PILOT SURVEYS TO IDENTIFY THE PREVALENCE AND ONGOING CAUSES OF STATELESSNESS IN KYRGYZSTAN After passage of the 2007 Law, the Kyrgyz Government requested UNHCR to conduct a survey to support recommendations on how to improve the identification of stateless persons and resolve their status. To this end, UNHCR commissioned Kyrgyz NGOs, namely the Centre for International Protection, Ferghana Valley Lawyers Without Borders and Counterpart-Sheriktesh, to conduct three field studies in 2007 and 2008. The NGOs were asked to concentrate their research on the border regions in the north and south of the country. The surveys found some 13,000 stateless persons in 18 districts in four provinces. They confirmed that most of these stateless persons had resided in Kyrgyzstan for many years and were an integral part of the Kyrgyz social fabric, with close family and cultural links to the country. However, they continued to face problems in acquiring Kyrgyz nationality, primarily because they did not have the right identity documents to establish their eligibility to confirm or acquire nationality through the improved legal framework. The surveys supported the process of improving the by-laws and administrative procedures relating to citizenship and documentation. 2. DEVELOPMENT OF AN INTER-GOVERNMENTAL STATELESSNESS STRATEGY After UNHCR and its civil society partners presented the results of their surveys and the recommendations arising from them to the Kyrgyz Government at a roundtable meeting in 2008, an inter-agency process was launched with the goal of resolving statelessness in the country. A first High-Level Steering Meeting on the Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness in the Kyrgyz Republic in 2009, jointly chaired by the State Registration Service of the Kyrgyz Government and UNHCR, led to the adoption of a National Action Plan to Prevent and Reduce Statelessness. The outbreak of violence in Kyrgyzstan in 2010 delayed deliberations and progress temporarily. However, a second High Level Steering Committee Meeting held in 2011 resulted in the adoption of a revised and updated National Action Plan to Prevent and Reduce Statelessness.30 30 28 The key actions that the Kyrgyz Government has committed to undertake to address statelessness include: the continued accelerated exchange of old Soviet passports by the State Registration Service; pursuit of a comprehensive survey on statelessness; awareness-raising among stateless persons of their rights and duties; drafting and adoption of by-laws and instructions to comply with the 2007 Law; the introduction of changes in the legislative and administrative frameworks in Kyrgyzstan to improve provision of birth registration to all children; development and adoption of a statelessness determination procedure; and steps to accede to the 1954 and 1961 Conventions. 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