3. ENSURING THAT TODAY’S REFUGEES ARE NOT TOMORROW’S STATELESS: SOLUTIONS IN A REFUGEE CONTEXT shift with regards to refugee policy and needs to be leveraged. It is vital that the values that lie behind it are pushed at a political level with individual States. While inevitably there is going to be considerable reluctance on the part of some States to support this policy, it opens up the opportunity to advocate for local integration as both a temporary and permanent solution to exile. The belief that all those displaced will eventually be able to return to where they first came from is not only dangerous but short-sighted. It leads to wasted human potential, to over-stretched aid budgets as refugees have to be maintained in highly inefficient camps or in dispersed communities, and, most importantly, to a stunted approach to durable solutions. By contrast, by raising awareness that today’s refugees could become tomorrow’s stateless persons, the debate can be re-focused in order to ensure that a far more inclusive and robust approach to durable solutions is taken. In addition, more can be done to promote changes in law and policy that allow access by refugees to naturalisation in accordance with the 1951 Refugee Convention as a measure to prevent statelessness. Legal mechanisms that exist in some areas in Africa could be further exploited in this regard. For example some national legislation offers nationality to children born on the territory if their parents were also born on the territory such that at least second generation refugees or migrants would automatically get citizenship. Other countries provide for easier access to citizenship for individuals who are born on the territory and are resident for a period of time. It is encouraging to note that the latter has been recommended by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights as a regional standard (with children born on the territory having the option to become citizens at 18 if not earlier). The Campaign has also highlighted the fact that more needs to be done to facilitate access to documentation. There is an increasing emphasis on ensuring that all refugees have access to birth registration and other documents, and a growing recognition that UNHCR and other actors need to increasingly support facilitation of necessary procedures, such as registrations of birth at consulates or embassies, where appropriate. In addition, to facilitate access to alternative immigration statuses without needing to approach the governments from which they fled, it is encouraging that UNHCR has started to negotiate flexible evidentiary standards for alternative statuses. Finally, and as the case studies clearly show, there is a need for detailed follow up in all of 96