affected individuals in limbo. Moreover, the temporary documents and the ‘special registration number’ provided were not officially recognised, rendering them useless for accessing the intended services. This law did not facilitate access to nationality for the group of people identified as undocumented nor did it resolve the remaining gaps in civil registration to prevent new cases of statelessness from arising. 29. In July 2022, the Ombudsman requested that the Government extend the deadline to apply for ‘special registration’ and notified the Government of the gaps that remained in practice. Upon the initiative of a member of Parliament, the Parliament of North Macedonia held a supervisory session in February 2023 to hear the concerns of several stakeholders with regards to the implementation of the Law on Persons without Regulated Civil Status, concluding that the law did not fulfil the purpose for which it was enacted. 30. As a response to the failure of the authorities to effectively grant access to economic and social rights for people with unregulated civil status, in November 2022 the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) and the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association (MYLA) jointly initiated litigation in an ‘actio popularis’ case against the Directorate for Keeping the Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths in North Macedonia. 35 The complaint was submitted to the Basic Civil Court in Skopje, as a collective effort aimed at representing unregistered individuals who were discriminated against and effectively denied access to their fundamental rights as guaranteed by the 2020 Law on Persons without Regulated Civil Status, with a particular impact on Romani individuals. This situation highlighted a pressing need for changes in the legislation to ensure that the rights and welfare of all unregistered persons on the Macedonian territory, including the Romani population, were appropriately safeguarded and respected. Several hearings were already held in relation to this case. 31. In response to several joint advocacy and litigation efforts, including those made by civil society, in June 2023 the Parliament adopted amendments to the Law on Civil Registry to regularise the situation of the 700 people without personal documentation identified through the 2018 Government-led public call. These amendments provide for a simplified and facilitated procedure for birth registration with the aim of ensuring that everyone identified in the public call is registered in the regular birth register by end of 2023. This is a very welcome step by North Macedonia, and it is positive to see that there are ongoing media campaigns for stateless people to approach legal advice providers (including MYLA) for support in submitting requests for naturalisation and birth registration. Civil society organisations report that new cases of unregistered people are being identified regularly and also in the process of being regularised. The success of the recent legislative amendments depends on a continuous, effective and comprehensive implementation of the new legal provisions. As mentioned above, there are some people who remain without regulated civil status and who were not identified in the public call. To break the cycle of statelessness in North Macedonia, it is important that the authorities continue to create facilitated procedures for the regularisation and documentation of everyone on its territory, regardless of whether they were identified in the 2018 call. 32. In order to resolve all known cases of statelessness in the country, it is essential that the registration of people with unregulated civil status is followed by the issuance of identity 35 ERRC, North Macedonia ERRC & MYLA sue authorities for discrimination of Roma & other unregistered persons (December 2022): http://www.errc.org/press-releases/north-macedonia-errc--myla-sue-authorities-for-discrimination-of-roma--otherunregistered-persons. 7