The UN refugee agency or UNHCR and the Directorate of Nationality, Passports and Immigration of South Sudan and Forcier Consulting on Wednesday launched a study on statelessness in South Sudan.
The study to prevent statelessness explains main causes behind the statelessness in South Sudan and outlines categories of people who are at risk of statelessness.
The study also identifies capacity and legal gaps that exist at central and local level and offers concrete recommendations to all concerned stakeholders on how to address the problem.
Among major risks of statelessness in South Sudan, the study emphasizes state succession, procedural gaps and different application of provisions in the nationality law for some minority groups.
The lack of a civil registration system underfunded state institutions and ongoing conflict are other issues risking the statelessness.
The study says some categories of population in South Sudan are particularly at risk of statelessness.
Many vulnerable and low-income individuals face difficulties in acquiring nationality certificates due to costs and procedures throughout the application process, it points out.
Pastoralist groups cannot access nationality certificates as they are not considered South Sudanese which renders them stateless, the study notes.