parent’s identity documentation.48 With almost a third of the population in Myanmar being without any form of identity documentation, such a requirement is likely to be a significant barrier to obtaining a birth certificate.49 41. Second, the process for registering a birth (and then obtaining a birth certificate) is a complicated, multiple-step process. Applicants must physically attend various appointments with a number of government departments of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Home Affairs. Such requirements are particularly difficult for PLWD in rural and remote areas, due lack of public transport and long travelling distances to relevant government offices. This is similar to the barriers for PLWD detailed above with respect to citizenship documentation. 42. Third, and again similar the barriers for PLWD to obtaining citizenship documentation, the design and construction of the government offices of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Home Affairs, often does not meet the needs of people living with disabilities and in turn is a barrier to birth registration and obtaining birth certificates. 43. Fourth, there is limited awareness as to the importance of birth registration amongst Myanmar’s most marginalised populations, including populations living in rural and remote areas and conflictaffected areas, such as Kachin State and Northern Shan.50 This results in low birth registration rates in these areas.51 44. Fifth, children born abroad, and who are registered by foreign authorities, must have their births registered again with the Myanmar authorities when their parents return.52 Given that Myanmar is one of the Asia-Pacific region’s largest source countries for migrants and refugees, this extremely problematic. For example, returned migrants and refugees interviewed by the Statelessness Network Asia Pacific in Mon State in 2017 reported that Thai birth certificates are not accepted by the Myanmar authorities as proof of identity or birth. One village leader reported that there were over 30 children in his village that were born in Thailand. 53 It was also reported that if the mother or father is not of one of the “135 recognised ethnic groups” and the child was born abroad, the family are also likely to face difficulties in registering the child’s birth for the first time as well as re-registering the birth upon return to Myanmar.54 45. Sixth, the Ministry of Planning and Finance’s Manual for the Birth and Death Registration System prescribes that a child can only be registered up to 10 years of age.55 However, in practice, without paying bribes (also referred to as “unofficial fees”), families are usually unable to register a child that is older than a newborn. For example, an internally displaced mother in Kachin State in 2018 48 The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Ministry of Planning and Finance, Manual for the Birth and Death Registration System (July 2017), page 19. See also, A Gender Analysis on the Right to A Nationality in Myanmar, pages 31-33. 49 The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census, The Union Report: Census Report Volume 2 (May 2015) http://myanmar.unfpa.org/publications/union-report-volume-2-maincensus-report, pp. 2, 208 and 209. 50 A Gender Analysis on the Right to A Nationality in Myanmar, page 33, and Barriers to accessing civil documentation - Experiences of internally displaced persons in Kachin State, Myanmar (forthcoming). 51 Barriers to accessing civil documentation - Experiences of internally displaced persons in Kachin State, Myanmar (forthcoming). 52 The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Ministry of Planning and Finance, Manual for the Birth and Death Registration System (July 2017), p. 17. 53 A Gender Analysis on the Right to A Nationality in Myanmar, page 28. 54 Ibid, page 28. 55 The Republic of the Union of Myanmar, Ministry of Planning and Finance, Manual for the Birth and Death Registration System (July 2017), page 17. 10