8 Preventing Statelessness Among Migrants and Refugees lished on the difficulties in obtaining documents from a country of origin.6 This research project aimed to fill the gap in existing empirical research on the difficulties faced by migrants and refugees as they navigate the interactions between the identification systems of their host and home countries. It was conceived against the background of two important global initiatives: the campaign and ten-point action plan launched in 2014 by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to end statelessness within a decade7; and the target set by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to ‘provide legal identity for all, including birth registration’ by 2030.8 These commitments were joined in 2018 by the adoption of two ‘Global Compacts’, on refugees and on migration, emphasising ‘access … to civil and birth registration and documentation’ for refugees and stateless persons9 and provision to all migrants of ‘proof of legal identity and adequate documentation’.10 North Africa is a testing ground for the interpretation and application of these international commitments. The region, historically known for high rates of emigration, is increasingly learning to accommodate people whose origins lie in other regions of the world, many of them undocumented. There are very limited existing rights to acquire nationality based on birth in the territory of the North African states, requiring not only law reform to address these gaps, but also the preservation of legal connections to a country ‘of origin’, if statelessness is to be avoided. The LSE Middle East Centre collaborated with partners in Egypt and Morocco—the Centre for Migration and Refugee Studies (CMRS) at the American University in Cairo, and the Association marocaine d’études et de recherches sur la migration (AMERM) associated with the Mohammed V University in Rabat—to research the particular challenges related to registration of births and identity documents faced by migrants and refugees in North Africa. This paper analyses the findings of two national reports published by our partners.11 The research found that obstacles to obtaining these documents are high, and often insurmountable. Despite high reported rates of birth registration in both Egypt and Morocco, many refugees and migrants, especially those in irregular status, reported serious difficulfiles/documents/files/Rapport%20migrants%20Niger%20Togo%20%28juil.%202013%29.pdf 6 The particular situation of displaced Syrians has, however, received some attention: see for example, Zahra Albarazi and Laura van Waas, ‘Understanding statelessness in the Syria refugee context’, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion and Norwegian Refugee Council, 2016; and the resources based on this report, available at http://www.syrianationality.org/ 7 Global Campaign to End Statelessness. Available at https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/ 8 SDG Target 16.9. Available at https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg16 9 ‘Global Compact on Refugees: Report of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to the General Assembly’, A/73/12, 13 September 2018, para 82. Available at https://www.unhcr.org/5b3295167.pdf 10 ‘Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration: Intergovernmentally Negotiated and Agreed Outcome’, 13 July 2018, para 20. Available at https://refugeesmigrants.un.org/sites/default/files/180713_ agreed_outcome_global_compact_for_migration.pdf 11 The country reports will be available for the CMRS at http://schools.aucegypt.edu/GAPP/cmrs/Pages/ default.aspx; and for AMERM at http://amerm.ma/