GLOSSARY CITIZENSHIP This guide uses the terms citizenship and nationality interchangeably to refer to the legal link between an individual and a state. This approach is typical in international law. In different countries, depending on legal traditions, language, and history, these terms may have slightly different meanings. In some countries, for example, the law may distinguish between a “national” and a “citizen,” with different spheres of rights attached to each status. In other disciplines outside of the law, nationality and citizenship are often used differently and with more fluid meaning than under the law. CITIZENSHIP The rights of citizens, which include rights limited to citizens, such as the right to vote RIGHTS in national elections and to receive certain public services, as well as rights available regardless of citizenship status (basic human rights like the respect for human dignity, the right to life, freedom from inhuman treatment, and non-discrimination). See also Effective citizenship rights. CIVIL STATUS The legal capacity, rights, and duties of a person, determined by birth, parentage, or guardianship, marriage or divorce, and death. A person can have multiple and overlapping civil statuses (for example, someone can be an adopted person, a citizen, and married). CIVIL DOCUMENTATION A physical token or credential that serves as a form of proof of civil status, such certificates of birth, adoption, marriage, divorce, or death. A person can have multiple forms of civil documentation. CIVIL The verification, collection, and storing of personal data to establish unique identity. IDENTIFICATION Civil identification increasingly covers personal biometric data, such as fingerprints or iris scans. This personal data can be stored in different forms in different countries: some systems are paper-based, others are digital, others are a combination or transitioning from one data storage system to another. CIVIL The institutions and processes that govern civil status records, which may include REGISTRATION both administrative and judicial authorities. Civil registration involves the gathering, SYSTEM safekeeping, updating, and certifying of data on vital events and their characteristics that have implications for the civil status of individuals. The United Nations defines civil registration as “the continuous, permanent, obligatory, and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events (births, adoptions, marriages, divorces and deaths) and other civil status events pertaining to the population by decree, law or regulation, in accordance with each country’s legal requirements.” (From the United Nations Statistics Division Handbook on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, 1998.) DO NO HARM The principle by which humanitarian, human rights, and development actors, for example, seek to identify, prevent, and mitigate unintended negative consequences of their actions, in particular for the intended beneficiary population, community, or individual. 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 | 5