IMP LEMENTATIO N BIRTH REGISTRATION IS GENERALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT DOCUMENT FOR ACCESSING RIGHTS AND SERVICES. •C  ross-border cooperation is required to obtain evidence, proof, or copies of documents. •O  fficials refuse to register marriages between people of different ethnic backgrounds, nationalities, or religions. •T  he parents’ marriage was never registered officially. If the spouses are dead, their children may have a need for the certificate and may not know it does not exist. •D  ivorce papers may be difficult to get in countries where there are discriminatory attitudes against women seeking divorce. • In situations of conflict or natural disasters, civil registration systems can break down, records may be destroyed, and temporary, informal solutions may take their place. These actions can help individuals get birth certificates: •E  mpowering people to register births on time. This avoids emergencies later and may also avoid fees that states usually attach to late registration. •S  haring information regarding late registration procedures, which may differ from on-time birth registration. •A  ccompanying clients through the registration process. Judicial authorities may be intimidating and the process may be complicated. •H  elping clients overcome practical difficulties. This might include paying fees and other costs or traveling to take an application from a client’s home to an administrative center. •C  ommunicating with consular authorities or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or of Diaspora Issues (which might keep records of births of nationals abroad, declared in consulates), to obtain proof of births, marriages, or deaths that took place outside the country. However, to ensure that confidentiality requirements are respected, note that consular authorities or countries of origin should not be contacted if the person is a refugee or going through an asylum claim. •A  sking non-state entities such as UNHCR for help when assisting former refugees/returnees. These agencies may be able to facilitate access to official forms of legal identity documentation. • ID documents are a beginning, not an ending, but they are a very important beginning.  or discussions concerning contacting consular or country of F origin authorities in international displacement settings, and of possible tensions between birth and marriage registration, see 7.4 Ethical Issues. Assisting clients in countries with restrictive approaches to granting nationality Descendants of migrants (including second, third, or more generations back) who do not retain ties to their ancestors’ territory are at risk 102 | A C O M M U N I T Y- B A S E D P R A C T I T I O N E R ’ S G U I D E : D O C U M E N T I N G C I T I Z E N S H I P A N D OT H E R F O R M S O F L E G A L I D E N T I T Y