with the support of an employer. Since most jobs are in the informal sector, the system falls down in practice. At the same time, although ECOWAS Member States generally display a tolerant attitude to nationals of other ECOWAS countries with irregular migration status, expulsions do occur and frequently do not follow the requirement to be carried out “solely on strictly legal grounds”. Nor did officials of Member States interviewed for this report note any coordinated efforts to “facilitate the obtaining of the correct documents by illegal immigrants”, as required by the Code of Conduct. The Protocol on the Definition of a Community Citizen has remained unaddressed in national laws and policies; indeed, its provisions are for the most part not implementable for lack of clarity on what is required. The various protocols have not resulted in any agreement or action to resolve the situation of individuals whose nationality is in doubt, nor to provide access to nationality for migrants and their children. Nonetheless, as noted by a recent survey, ECOWAS has achieved definite successes, including: “abolition of the entry visa; adoption and use of a standardized ECOWAS Travel Certificate (1985); agreement on and gradual introduction of the ECOWAS passport (since 2000); and implementation of the Brown Card Motor Vehicle Insurance Scheme (since 1982).”302 Many of the ambitions of the ECOWAS treaties in relation to freedom of movement and residence are implemented through a network of bilateral agreements among Member States rather than as a matter of ECOWAS law. The protocols are under review to address some of the problems in their implementation and further changes are under discussion, including the replacement of the travel certificate and ECOWAS passport with an ECOWAS biometric ID card; removal of the residence card requirement for citizens of the Community and abolition of the 90-day residence limit; revision of the concept of ECOWAS citizenship; and removal of the health card requirement.303 In July 2014 the ECOWAS Authority approved the introduction by 2017 of a new ECOWAS national biometric ID card, and the abolition in 2015 of the requirement for residence permits for ECOWAS citizens resident in another ECOWAS State.304 There is a minimum action programme for the implementation of free movement of persons that provides timelines for further action on monitoring and control and activities at national level. The ongoing review of the ECOWAS framework on freedom of movement provides a real opportunity to integrate consideration of nationality and statelessness within the reforms proposed. The abolition of the requirement for a residence permit, for example, which reflects in part simply a recognition that ECOWAS citizens rarely obtain such a document, also risks reinforcing the existing difficulties for access to nationality for migrants within the ECOWAS region: how can a person obtain naturalisation in another state if there is no proof that he or she has been legally resident there? There is a need to consider measures to ensure effective access to nationality to complement the measures to ensure implementation of the ECOWAS commitments to freedom of movement, residence, work and establishment. 302 Livia Styp-Rekowska, Immigration and Border Management Baseline Assessment, FMM West Africa, 2013. Interview with N’faly Sanoh, Directeur, Libre Circulation, ECOWAS Commission, Abuja, July 2014.. 304 Final Communique: Forty-Fifth Ordinary Session of the Authority of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, Accra, Ghana, 10 July 2014. 303 87