The Civil Registry enacted Regulation 059 in March 2015, instructing registrars to consider these documents as proof of domicile. This was a positive change, in that previously a resident’s visa was the only acceptable proof of domicile.320 UNHCR has identified the initiative as a good practice.321 However, asylum seekers, if their application is pending at the time of the birth of their children, cannot demonstrate domicile. In Colombia, many initiatives have been implemented to facilitate registration of IDPs, recognizing the multiple difficulties this population faces in accessing birth registration offices, and the challenge of registering a birth when security and life are at risk.322 Efforts to remediate the problem of birth registration for the children of IDPs include the May 2004 creation of a Unit of Attention for vulnerable populations within the Civil Registry Office.323 This unit is responsible for reaching the most remote and conflict affected regions of the country. It has deployed seven mobile units equipped with satellite communications, computers, printers, electricity, and digital photography systems. The unit’s report of April 1, 2011, states that 237 registration and documentation of identity campaigns had been held, in 630 municipalities, serving 985,462 persons, including the registration of 251,172 births.324 But despite the positive nature of these campaigns, Colombia retains a registration gap: UNICEF reported that between 2005 and 2012, universal birth registration in Colombia was at 96.5%, with 97.2% urban registration and 94.6% rural registration.325 Venezuela’s 2014 mass deportation of Colombians residing in Venezuela increased the number of IDPs significantly, as returnees did not necessarily return to places where they had been established before they fled to Venezuela. At that time, the Colombian government put into place several emergency measures to assist the returnee population.326 For example, in 2015 the Civil Registrar issued internal orders creating exemptions and making certain evidentiary requirements more flexible. These urgent measures have been implemented in recognition of the difficulties that the population faces in fulfilling certain formalities, due to the humanitarian crisis.327 The impact of these measures has not been quantified, but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reported a significant increase in requests for nationality recognition, after the new policies were issued. As in Brazil and Chile, remote regions of the country pose difficulties in Colombia, as public officers lack training on the statelessness safeguard and on the documents that are now valid to attest to domicile. Unfortunately, people in these regions are at heightened risk of requiring these means to attain nationality, but may be unaware of the relaxed policies. Thus they are less able to assert their rights when they do come into contact with governmental entities that administer identity processes. In interviews undertaken for this report, UNHCR and civil society organizations described public officials’ misinterpretation or lack of knowledge of the applicable laws—combined with lack of access to documentation of identity—as the primary fac- 74 COUNTRY PROFILES l COLOMBIA