STATELESSNESS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY 9. Recommendations Regional institutional support for inter-state cooperation and common norms The EAC institutions should facilitate collaboration among EAC Partner States to resolve cases of potential statelessness, by:        Promoting the establishment of bi- and tri-lateral commissions to conduct verification missions to border populations, ensuring that all those resident in border areas have the documents of one or other (or both) state(s). Promoting the exchange of information and coordinated adjudication procedures among EAC Partner States and with neighbouring countries in order to establish a nationality for persons whose nationality is in doubt. Facilitate the provision of training on statelessness for officials responsible for nationality administration. Creating a mechanism such as a regional ombudsperson to serve as an interface between EAC citizens and the EAC Commission on nationality matters. Promoting the harmonisation of the nationality laws and practices of Partner States in line with the recommendations in this report and the Dar es Salaam and Brazzaville Declarations of the ICGLR, as part of the project to harmonise laws among Partner States. Ensuring that initiatives to strengthen the implementation of the EAC regime on free movement of persons, including the adoption of the biometric national ID card, take adequate account of the obligation to reduce statelessness. Conducting research and publishing reports on the consequences and prevalence of statelessness in the region and the profiles of those at risk, in collaboration with UNHCR and other relevant international agencies, in order to inform legislative and policy reforms to be implemented by Partner States. These recommendations apply in equal measure to the ICGLR Executive Secretariat and coordination mechanisms, which should in addition build on existing commitments by:  Ensuring the commitments adopted in the Brazzaville Declaration and Regional Action Plan are upheld within the timeframes agreed to by states, particularly the commitment to ratify the statelessness conventions by 2019, and to develop national action plans to eradicate statelessness. If the commitments are not upheld in time, the Regional Action Plan should be extended to 2024, in line with UNHCR’s #IBelong Campaign to End Statelessness. Law reform EAC Partner States should:    Remove discriminatory provisions from domestic legislation in relation to the transmission of nationality to a spouse or child on the basis of sex or on the basis of birth in or out of wedlock. Review provisions that create preferential access to citizenship on the basis of race, religion or ethnic group to ensure that they comply with international and African norms and standards, and in particular to avoid the risk of statelessness for those who are born in the country who are not members of the preferred group or groups. Ensure that every child has the right to a nationality, including through provisions that: o Incorporate the safeguards against statelessness that are contained in the international conventions on statelessness and the international and African human rights treaties, in particular for children born in the country who cannot obtain access to proof of nationality of one of their parents. o Provide for access to citizenship for a person born in the country who remains there during childhood and until majority, whether automatically or on the basis of an application procedure, in particular where that person is otherwise stateless. UNHCR / September 2018 87