Attitudes and assumptions by families of PLWD 35. The Report by the Myanmar Federation of Persons with Disabilities and Myanmar Disabled People Organizations to the Committee also states that “families hold superstitious beliefs and neglect their children with disabilities by denying their rights to access to job openings and family inheritance”.44 36. Similar attitudes by families of PLWD were also reported during interviews by the Statelessness Network Asia Pacific with PLWD, parents of PLWD and with representatives of disability rights organisations in Yangon State, Tanintharyi Region, Mon State, Mandalay Region and Kachin State in 2017 and 2018. For example, in Kachin State in November 2018, the mother of a physically disabled son reported that she will not obtain citizenship documentation for her son, based on her belief that “he doesn’t need a citizenship card because he will never need to work, study or travel”. 37. During interviews by the Statelessness Network Asia Pacific with disability rights organisations in Yangon State and Mandalay Region in 2017, it was also reported that families of PLWD often have gender-discriminatory attitudes with respect to obtaining citizenship documentation for their children. For example, families would be more likely to obtain citizenship documentation for a male PLWD in their family than for a female PLWD. This is because PLWD men often have better employment prospects in Myanmar than female PLWD. Families may also not obtain citizenship documentation for their female PLWD children due to concerns that female PLWD face heightened risks of abuse and exploitation when working and travelling within Myanmar. In response, families believe it is in their child’s best interests to not obtain citizenship documentation (so as to hinder their ability work and travel). However, without citizenship documentation, female PLWD are in fact likely to face heightened risks of abuse and exploitation, particularly trafficking risks.45 Birth certificates 38. Birth certificates are usually required for a child to attend primary and secondary school and access some health care services in Myanmar.46 Further and as detailed above, for citizenship applications, MoLIP often accepts birth certificates as evidence of the links between a child and its parents. Therefore, birth registration and birth certificates are a vital tool for ensuring a child’s ability to acquire a nationality in Myanmar.47 39. Some of the barriers that marginalised populations face in obtaining birth certificates in Myanmar are listed below. A number of these barriers are specifically faced by PLWD. 40. First, the process for obtaining a birth certificate requires the initial step of registering the birth. An applicant for birth registration must provide a number of supporting documents, such as both 44 Report by the Myanmar Federation of Persons with Disabilities and Myanmar Disabled People Organizations to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 10 July 2018, INT_CRPD_ICO_MMR_31739_E, para 3.13, page 25. 45 A Gender Analysis on the Right to A Nationality in Myanmar, page 21. 46 Ibid, page 32. 47 See generally UNHCR, Birth Registration – Child Protection Brief (August 2013) Refworld <http://www.refworld.org/docid/523fe9214.html>; Guidelines on Statelessness No 4: Ensuring Every Child’s Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1–4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, UN Doc HCR/GS/12/04 (21 December 2012) 12 [55]. 9