In Zambia, the Department of National Registration, Passports and Citizenship in collaboration with the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees, and supported by UNHCR, conducted birth registration and documentation exercises at the Meheba, Mayukwayukwa and Mantapala refugee settlements and in Lusaka. Birth registration and birth certificates are essential for children to obtain their refugee documentation and a legal status in the country. In advance of the exercise, an information campaign was organized to sensitize the target population on the importance of birth registration. A total of 1,612 births were registered and 231 birth certificates and 2,982 refugee documents were issued. A South Sudanese refugee and his daughter after they received her birth certificate issued by Sudanese authorities. © UNHCR/Sabah Elbasha Efforts to provide birth certificates to vulnerable populations were also made in Sudan. The Commissioner for Refugees, the Civil Registry and UNHCR issued birth certificates to 683 South Sudanese refugee children living in the North Kordofan State. This exercise was the first time refugee children were able to access birth certificates in this region. In Venezuela, UNHCR, the Civil Registry Office, the Office of the Ombudsperson and HIAS supported late birth registration and issuance of birth certificates for 29 children of the indigenous Pemon people, members of the community of Uroy Uaray in Bolivar State. Indigenous communities in Venezuela often face logistical barriers to effectively access (late) birth registration procedures due to their remote location. Throughout 2022, UNHCR will continue to support the organization of mobile registration brigades in remote areas of Apure, Zulia, and Bolivar States to facilitate (late) birth registration procedures and ensure access to nationality rights. UNHCR in Algeria continued its efforts to refer persons of concern for legal assistance to facilitate access to birth registration, including through late birth registration. UNHCR also developed an information leaflet on civil registration and documentation procedures, including an overview of available assistance. In line with Action 9: Accede to the UN Statelessness Conventions, on 24 March, in a historic development, the Philippines acceded to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, thereby becoming the 78th State Party and the first country in Southeast Asia to become party to the Convention. With this step, the Philippines fulfilled one of its pledges submitted at the 2019 High-Level Segment on Statelessness and made progress in the implementation of its National Action Plan to End Statelessness. The Philippines also remains the first and only country in the region to have acceded to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons. The Government of Burkina Faso rolled out the digital civil registration tool, Icivil, to the Gourcy municipality in the Nord region, where many populations at risk of statelessness reside. The tool facilitates birth registration for the prevention of statelessness, for example by allowing midwives to quickly create a notification of birth using a phone, thereby facilitating birth registration. In Rwanda, in accordance with Action 10: Improve quantitative and qualitative data on stateless populations, the National Statelessness Taskforce started training over 3,000 government officials. The training is a key-element to the implementation of a country-wide survey to identify stateless persons and persons of undetermined nationality, expected to be completed by mid-2022. UNHCR > The Campaign to End Statelessness | January – March 2022 Update 7