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An interviewer and his supervisor arrive at a household in downtown Abidjan. Each team interviewed an average of 20 households per day. Layse Farias\/UNHCR<\/p><\/div>\n
The nation-wide mapping, a first of its type in Africa, is in line with the overall policy of the Banjul Plan of Action<\/a> of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on the eradication of statelessness 2017 \u2013 2024.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n This is not the first time the UNHCR office in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire has taken steps to improve data collection and identification of stateless persons and those at risk of statelessness. Prior to launching the mapping exercise, UNHCR published a study in November 2016 focusing specifically on the issue of statelessness. Named \u201cStatelessness and Nationality in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire\u201d<\/a>, it identifies some of its key administrative and legal causes and provides information on the main profiles of stateless persons in the country. A second study, to be finalized in 2018, was also conducted with the support of INS and Statistics Norway and looks at the results from previous general population censuses to identify proxy factors for measuring statelessness.<\/p>\n Both the qualitative and quantitative studies have made recommendations for a nation-wide household survey as a way to improve raw data collection and understanding of the phenomenon on a country level.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The initial pilot phase of this data collection exercise lasted for around 10 days and included training of the interviewers, household counting, sample drawing and data collection within 10 different zones.\u00a0The work has sparked off a lot of interest and from Headquarters UNHCR\u2019s Field Information and Coordination Support Section\u00a0supported the planning of the pilot.<\/p>\n Once the results came in, a few issues were identified such as difficulty in finding the households based on the government reference points (as many included restaurants and other businesses that no longer exist), finding people at home (most people working all day and only available in the evening) and reluctance of some interviewees to provide information they considered sensitive. Measures such as radio broadcasts in vernacular languages were since put in place in order to address these issues and improve communication around the operation before the official launch of the main phase of the operation that took place on August 1st<\/sup>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The official launch of the mapping exercise took place in Abidjan on the 1st of August. Daouda Guirou\/UNHCR<\/p><\/div>\n By August 17th<\/sup>around 120 civil registry trained staff had begun data collection for both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the exercise. Around 9000 households are expected to be interviewed during a period of roughly 50 days.<\/p>\n C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire is home to one of the largest populations of stateless persons in the world. As such, persons unable to prove their nationality also find it challenging to access basic rights and services, such as go to school, see a doctor, open a bank account, get a formal job, travel, or even get married.<\/p>\n The two main groups concerned in C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire are historic migrants and their descendants, who have lost ties to their country of origin over the generations as well as foundlings[2]<\/a>, or children of unknown parentage. Strict nationality laws, migration and low levels of birth registration all contribute to the incidence of statelessness in the country.<\/p>\n The government has taken steps to address the issue, by acceding to the two Statelessness Conventions in 2013 and reintroducing, under Law 2013-653 a special nationality acquisition by declaration program that remained in place until January 2016. However, challenges still remain and UNHCR is working closely with government authorities to improve birth registration records, support individual documentation, and address the foundlings\u2019 issue.<\/p>\n The results of the mapping exercise should be available by the end of 2018. The data collected will help gather socio-demographic, economic and cultural information on this population and help the Government and UNHCR design appropriate solutions for the estimated 693\u00a0000 stateless and at risk of stateless persons living in the country.<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to know more about UNHCR’s work in Cote d\u2019Ivoire.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n\u201cWe need reliable data to design appropriate response plan for all the stateless person or those at risk of statelessness\u201d explain Mohammed Askia Tour\u00e9, UNHCR Representative in Cote d\u2019Ivoire<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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