from Myanmar proved reluctant to apply for nationality verification, the Thai Ministry of Labour developed and circulated an information brochure to tackle the specific concerns that this community had regarding the process.126 A continuous appraisal of the situation on the ground is therefore critical. The same is true for birth registration. Arguably the greatest remaining challenge for the ASEAN region lies not in the legal framework, but in its implementation. A variety of factors underlie the enduring difficulties in putting universal birth registration into practice across the region. These include: lack of public awareness on the procedures, inadequate decentralisation of the system, insufficient prioritisation of birth registration, insufficient capacity of civil registry offices, prevalence of home births, cultural traditions that are not conducive to immediate registration and language barriers.127 Several groups are also seen to be especially vulnerable non-registration.128 Identifying specific constraints and dissecting relevant good practices, such as those presented earlier, will enable states to make even greater strides in preventing statelessness in future. 5. Reduction of statelessness “Reduction” of statelessness describes any efforts taken to find solutions to existing cases. One way to achieve this is through a large-scale reduction campaign of some kind. Various techniques have been employed across the world over the last few years. The global impact is impressive, as “more than 3.5 million people were able either to acquire or confirm a nationality between the end of 2004 and the end of 2008”.129 Less immediately visible, yet of great importance, is a second avenue for the reduction of statelessness: individual naturalisation.130 5.1 (Re)acquisition of nationality following legislative reform As previously mentioned, numerous countries within the region have amended their nationality laws in recent years. In some cases, these changes have brought an opportunity for people who had been rendered stateless under previous laws to now (re)acquire a nationality. Legislative reform opens doors for the reduction of statelessness in Indonesia Indonesia adopted a new nationality law in 2006 which brought important changes for the state’s citizenship policy. Previously, nationality could only be passed from father to child. Such gender inequality created a heightened risk of statelessness – particularly among children of mixednationality parentage. Meanwhile, a person who resided abroad for more than 5 years would lose their nationality if they did not declare their intention to remain a citizen, regardless of whether this would render someone stateless. Given the large numbers of Indonesian migrant workers dispersed around the world, the threat of statelessness under this provision was very real. By the turn of the 21st century, this 1958 nationality law was considered “philosophically, judicially and sociologically no longer compatible to the development of the people and the civic administration of the Republic of Indonesia”.131 Thus, Indonesia reformed the law to introduce gender equality and prevent statelessness from loss of nationality following long-term residence abroad. 126 IOM, Nationality Verification Regulations: February-April 2010 updates, Migrant Information Note, Issue 5, April 2010. See the various country presentations made at the 4th Asia and the Pacific Regional Conference on Birth Registration, March 2006. 128 For instance, in Indonesia rural areas are the worst affected, while in Brunei Darussalam, children who have been abandoned are particularly vulnerable to non-registration. UNICEF welcomes National Strategy on registration of all children in Indonesia by 2011, UNICEF Media Release, 18 December 2008; Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations: Brunei Darussalam, 27 October 2003. 129 UNHCR, Progress Report on Statelessness 2009, EC/60/SC/CRP.10, 26 May 2009. 130 States are also encouraged to “actively disseminate information regarding access to citizenship, including naturalization procedures, through the organization of citizenship information campaigns with the support of UNHCR, as appropriate”. This is to ensure that stateless persons are aware of reduction opportunities and can take action accordingly. UNHCR Executive Committee, Conclusion on Identification, Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness and Protection of Stateless Persons, No. 106, 6 October 2006. 131 “General Explanation” of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Indonesia, Decree No. 12, 2006. 127 19