The sixth regional WeBLAN conference took place in Zagreb in the period 12-14 October 2016. It was attended by representatives of non-governmental organisations Vaša prava BiH, Praxis from Serbia, Civil Rights Program Kosovo, the Macedonian Young Lawyers Association from Macedonia, the Legal Center from Montenegro and the Information Legal Centre from Croatia. The participants had the opportunity to present the achievements and challenges in the field of human rights, exchange experiences and discuss possibilities for further capacity building of WeBLAN. In addition, the participants expressed concern about the pending problems of statelessness and in this regard called on the states in the region to take measures to prevent statelessness, taking into account the following recommendations:

• Introduce a special statelessness determination procedure in Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and improve that procedure in B&H;
• Ensure the registration of children in birth registry books immediately after birth regardless of the status of their parents;
• Prevent statelessness among children;
• Strengthen the regional cooperation of states with the aim of obtaining personal documents, registration in civil registry books and prevention of statelessness;
• Ensure mutual recognition of public documents;
• Intensify efforts to raise awareness of target groups on the importance of possessing personal documents.

WeBLAN operates as an informal network of civil society organisations dedicated to the protection, promotion and advancement of human rights and social inclusion, the prevention and reduction of statelessness in the Western Balkans and the fight against discrimination.

More about the founding of WeBLAN can be read here.