158 Lynch and Reynolds Embassy in Washington and the U.S. government, the U.S. included resolution of the stateless refugees as a major concern in resuming friendly relations with and possible assistance to Mauritania’s new government during the election cycle. It became a campaign issue in Mauritania and upon completion of the election, the new government agreed to permit return of stateless refugees from Senegal. In the fall of 2007, U.S. State Department officials organized an event on the fringes of the UN General Assembly, which led to an article on statelessness in The Economist,14 and in 2008, RI had convinced the State Department to include statelessness in its annual human rights country reports. That summer, Representatives Sheila Jackson-Lee and Diane Watson introduced the firstever piece of legislation in the U.S. Congress, urging states to confer nationality on stateless individuals living in their territories.15 It also required that the President report on incidences of statelessness and directed the Secretary of State to increase personnel and resources dedicated to the prevention and resolution of statelessness. The legislation passed the House and later was included as part of the State Department Authorization Bill. Due to various jurisdictional and foreign policy disagreements the Senate never passed the bill, but it was clear that statelessness was a new human rights concern in Congress. The same year, RI released Futures Denied: Statelessness among Infants, Children, and Youth.16 Several other milestones occurred in 2008. UNHCR realigned its budget structure to include statelessness and RI received its first funding for statelessness initiatives. The 2007 version of the U.S. Trafficking in Persons report, which was launched in 2008,17 included reference to statelessness and BPRM organized an internal working group on statelessness in the Dominican Republic. RI provided comments on the UNCHR Public Health and HIV Guiding Principles that led to important internal dialogue on the need to address statelessness in that context. In 2009, publications on statelessness began to proliferate. RI released its second survey in a report called Nationality Rights for All: A Progress Report and Global Survey on Statelessness,18 the World Policy Journal featured an article on 14 15 16 17 18 The Economist ‘Statelessness: It’s Tough to Live in Limbo’ (n 4). See (n 9). Refugees International, ‘Futures Denied: Statelessness among Infants, Children, and Youth’ (22 October 2008) <www.refworld.org/docid/48fef8632.html> accessed 5 October 2013. United States Department of State, ‘Trafficking in Persons Report’ (June 2007) <www .state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2007/82808.htm> accessed 5 October 2013. Refugees International, ‘Nationality Rights for All: A Progress Report and Global Survey on Statelessness’ (11 March 2009) <http://www.refworld.org/docid/49be193f2.html> accessed 5 October 2013. tilburg law review 19 (2014) 153-162