© UNHCR/Roger Arnold “I feel that I belong here, too.” Mivtar and his daughter Lirije are members of the Roma population in North Macedonia. They were left stateless by the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Lacking birth certificates and other forms of documentation, Roma were given a window of twelve months in 1992 to apply for naturalization; but many missed the application period. As a result many Roma children could not be registered. Recently, with the assistance of a legal association, there have been positive changes, and children like Lirije have been able to obtain birth certificates and access to schooling. Such initiatives play an important role in countering the widespread discrimination and poverty affecting the Roma community. 40 U N H C R > H I G H - L E V E L S E G M E N T O N S T A T E L E S S N E S S : R E S U LT S A N D H I G H L I G H T S