ACTION 8: Issue nationality documentation to those with entitlement to it Individuals may be left stateless because they cannot acquire documents that prove their nationality. However, denial of nationality documentation leading to statelessness can occur due to discrimination against particular groups, which are not recognised as nationals. Existing information indicates that this is a major cause of statelessness. Kyrgyzstan has issued nationality documentation to all known persons who are entitled to it, while there have been partial achievements in 25 States including Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominican Republic, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Philippines, Rwanda, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Yemen, and Zimbabwe. Boosting registration among the Philippines’ indigenous Sama Bajau For generations, the Sama Bajau, a community with a longstanding itinerant culture, has made their living as seafarers traveling between Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. As such, they haven’t always prioritized birth certificates and other civil registration. But then, during the Zamboanga armed crisis in 2013 which displaced thousands, the Sama Bajau faced challenges in obtaining documentation to prove their identity and nationality, making it harder for them to enjoy basic rights such as housing, education and freedom of movement. When the IBelong Campaign began in 2014, the Government of the Philippines was the first country in southeast Asia to confront the challenges by adopting a national action plan to end statelessness. Soon afterward, in 2018, UNHCR began working with government authorities, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and Sama Bajau communities. In addition, community engagement efforts reinforced the importance of birth registration and provided counseling on the requirements, procedures and timeframes to obtain a birth certificate. One of the volunteers leading efforts is Almalyn Akmad – a Sama Bajau herself and a mother to four children. She went through a similar process to get a birth certificate and was integral in explaining it to community members. “Before, when they would be interviewed, they would hide out of fear. Now, they approach us to register, they ask us for advice on how to do it,” Almalyn said. Through her efforts and those of fellow volunteers – who often spent long days going house to house – the initiative has has facilitated the birth registration of more than 4,000 Sama Bajau, including 1,377 in 2023. Almalyn hopes to reach even more neighbours in the coming years, with the hope of giving more children the chance of a good education and the hope of a better life”. Building on the success of the birth registration efforts in Zamboanga, the initiative was expanded in 2021 to include the island provinces of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), and further increased coverage to an additional 50 municipalities in 2024, with the benefit of funding from the Government of Japan. #IBELONG 35