Good practices in access to universal birth registration for the prevention of childhood statelessness Births in Finland are normally registered by the attending healthcare professionals, who are required to submit the name and date of birth of the mother and the date and place of birth and gender of the child to the national population register. If the birth took place outside a medical facility without a healthcare professional, the mother or other responsible person is required to report the birth to a healthcare professional, who must report it to the population register. The parents must submit the child’s name and a native language (“mother tongue”) to the relevant authorities within three months of the birth.144 A child acquires Finnish citizenship at birth under Section 9 of the 2003 Nationality Act if the mother is a Finnish citizen, or the father is a Finnish citizen and married to the mother, or paternity is confirmed for a child born in Finland.145 Citizenship is also granted if the father was a Finnish citizen at the time of his death and married to the mother, or if the child is born in Finland and does not acquire or is not entitled to acquire the citizenship of another State. Additionally, children born in Finland to parents with refugee status or international protection may acquire Finnish citizenship if the child can only obtain their parent’s nationality through formal intervention by the parent’s country, and no other parent’s nationality is available. Children born outside Finland are automatically Finnish citizens if born to a Finnish citizen mother, or to a Finnish citizen father if the parents are married. In other cases, citizenship is not automatic. In certain circumstances, such as an unmarried Finnish citizen father or where there are two mothers and only the non-birth mother is a Finnish citizen, the child may be registered as Finnish if a declaration of citizenship is submitted. Births of Finnish citizens outside Finland must be notified to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency or to a Finnish embassy.146 144 Notification of a Child’s Name, Digital and Population Data Services Agency, (no date); see also Permanent Mission of Finland, Geneva, Verbal Note, 26 November 2013. Note that under Finnish law, “The child’s mother is the person who gave birth to the child. She does not have to acknowledge her parenthood. If the mother is married to a man when the child is born, the husband is automatically the parent of the child and there is no need for separate acknowledgement of paternity. In other cases, the parenthood of the other parent must be acknowledged and confirmed.” Quoted from Confirming and Annulling Parenthood, Digital and Population Data Services Agency, (no date). 145 If the child has two mothers under the Finnish Parenthood Act (775/2022), these provisions apply only to the mother who gave birth to the child, and the provisions concerning the father and confirmation of paternity apply to the mother referred to in section 5(1) of the Parenthood Act and the confirmation of maternity. Nationality Act, Section 9(4). See Parenthood Act, Finland/Ministry of Justice, Act (775/2022), entered into force 1 January 2023, Section 5(1); and Nationality Act, Finland/Ministry of the Interior, Act (359/2003; amendments up to 974/2007 included), Section 9(4). 146 Registering a Child Born Abroad in Finland, Digital and Population Data Services Agency, (no date); and Registration of Birth in the Population Register System, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, (no date). 56