A Study of Statelessness in South Sudan - 2017 © UNHCR A group of South Sudanese displaying their new Nationality Certificates (ID). staff in Eastern Equatoria, including training on approval of nationality, investigation, and immigration, continuous additional training is certainly needed.59 The development of checklists for field officers, with clear stipulations of all requirements for each option to acquire nationality, would also facilitate lawful and harmonised practices. Lack of training has resulted in limited knowledge of the 2011 Nationality Act and Regulations among DNPI staff. For example, in Renk, some DNPI staff believe only individuals over the age of eighteen are eligible to obtain a nationality certificate, yet the only minimum age set forth in the Act concerns naturalisation.60 DNPI staff in Renk have no way of improving their understanding of the legislation as, reportedly, no copies of the Nationality Act or Regulations 59 60 61 62 63 are available.61 Further action needs to be taken to enable DNPI officers to uniformly interpret the laws set forth in the Nationality Act and Regulations. In addition to misinterpretations of South Sudanese nationality legislation, interviews with DNPI staff revealed serious misunderstandings of statelessness, which is perhaps unsurprising as neither the Act nor Regulations refer to the situation of stateless persons. In that regard, a DNPI staff member in Juba estimates that up to 90% of the population is stateless, demonstrating confusion between possession of nationality documentation and statelessness.62 Blame is attributed to individuals who “do not want to apply for nationality”.63 According to a DNPI staff member in Aweil, “There is no gap in the nationality laws which permits some KII with DNPI Staff for Eastern Equatoria. KII with State Director of DNPI in Renk. KII with State Director of DNPI in Renk. KII with DNPI Staff in Juba. KII with DNPI Staff in Juba. 21