some instances it was claimed that members of the local community viewed them as outsiders. 236 These mind-sets would have to be changed if the law in the books is to be translated into real rights. One way of realizing this goal is for non-state agencies to highlight the positive contribution that stateless persons and those at risk of statelessness have made and continue to make in the country. Additionally, stakeholders must continuously monitor the implementation of the laws. 237 Non-Governmental Organizations dealing with human rights could also take a more active role in meeting specific needs of stateless persons and those at risk of statelessness. There is also need for legal assistance and advice to be provided by stakeholders. The Kenyan judicial practice on nationality issues is not developed enough. It is thus necessary to strengthen this aspect through legal action by NGOs on behalf of stateless persons and those at risk of statelessness. The close nexus between statelessness, humanitarian concerns and human rights should be acknowledged and profiled by KNCHR as well as by United Nations mandate holders such as the UNHCR. These organizations should work towards ensuring sound assessments that would advance protection of human rights of stateless persons and persons at risk of statelessness. Such assessments should inform the agencies’ programmes to enhance the advocacy efforts on behalf of stateless persons and those at risk of statelessness, especially when it comes to their ability to access services. New partnerships should be explored and formed with the range of actors and government service providers to bridge any gaps of a humanitarian nature that may be affecting stateless persons and those at risk of statelessness. Interview with Nonto, Coast Province, 15 September 2009 (‘Our relationship [with the neighbouring communities] is okay, but they discriminate telling us we are only passersby, not citizens’). Interview with Piet, Coast Province, 19 September 2009 (‘Chiefs and sub-chiefs look down on the foreigners and instead support the local community’). 237 See also Edwin Abuya, ‘From Here to Where? Refugees Living in Protracted Situations in Africa,’ in Alice Edwards and Carla Ferstman, (eds), Human Security and Non-Citizens in the New Global Order (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010) (forthcoming). See East African Community v Republic (1970) EA 457 at 460 (‘The provisions of a treaty entered into by the Government of Kenya do not become part of the municipal law of Kenya save in so far as they are made such by the law of Kenya’). 236 42 OUT OF THE SHADOWS TOWARDS ENSURING THE RIGHTS OF STATELESS PERSONS AND PERSONS AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS IN KENYA