Regional initiatives to address statelessness and regional Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) initiatives have both helped to promote good practices with respect to birth registration at the national level that are discussed in this paper. Progress has also occurred where national development plans have prioritized the improvement of birth registration systems. The 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda (2030 Agenda), most notably Target 16.9, which aims to achieve ‘legal identity for all, including birth registration’, has helpfully positioned the prevention and reduction of statelessness as a development issue. The 2030 Agenda’s aspiration ‘to leave no one behind’ is key in this respect. The opportunities generated by CRVS initiatives and the 2030 Agenda are discussed in detail in Section 3. 1.1 How Action 7 relates to other Actions in the Global Action Plan The goal of ensuring that all births are registered is closely connected to other Actions set out in the Global Action Plan, in particular Action 2: Ensure that no child is born stateless, Action 3: Remove gender discrimination from nationality laws, and Action 8: Issue nationality documentation to those with entitlement to it.2 Registration of births both prevents statelessness (in combination with Actions 2 and 3) and, by confirming nationality, reduces it (in combination with Action 8). Action 2 calls on States to put in place national legislative and administrative frameworks that will grant a nationality to children who would otherwise be stateless.3 It is directly linked to Action 7, since birth registration legally establishes a child’s parentage and the place and time of his or her birth, thereby providing the documentary proof required to establish a claim to nationality. Action 3, which aims to end gender discrimination in nationality laws, is closely linked to both Actions 2 and 7.4 It calls on States to prevent statelessness by treating men and women equally with respect to the passing of nationality to their children.5 Countries that discriminate against women with regard to transmission of nationality often only allow males to register births. Where fathers are absent, unknown, stateless, or unwilling to complete the administrative procedures required to confer nationality, children are less likely to be registered. Action 8 affirms that those who are entitled to a nationality should be able to acquire documentary proof of their nationality. While a birth certificate does not generally constitute proof of nationality, it is evidence in support of an entitlement to nationality. Birth registration is particularly important for children whose nationality is undetermined or not yet established. 1.2 Birth registration defined Birth registration is defined as ‘the continuous, permanent and universal recording, within the civil registry, of the occurrence and characteristics of birth in accordance with the national legal requirements of a country’.6 While procedures vary from country to country, birth registration generally involves making an official entry in the State’s registry and issuing a birth certificate.7 Birth certificates are a key form of proof to confirm or acquire citizenship under a State’s domestic legislation because they contain key information to assert the child’s right to a nationality.8 They record at a minimum the child’s name, date and place of birth, and the parents’ names.9 Where national law allows nationality to be acquired on grounds of descent 2 UNHCR, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness (4 November 2014), at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/545b47d64.html. 3 See UNHCR, Good Practices Paper – Action 2: Ensuring that no child is born stateless (20 March 2017), at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/58cfab014.html. 4 See UNHCR, Good Practices Paper – Action 3: Removing Gender Discrimination from Nationality Laws (6 March 2015), at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/54f8377d4.html. 5 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Article 9(2). 6 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System (Revision 2, Series M/19, 2001), at: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/standmeth/principles/M19Rev3en.pdf. 7 UNICEF, A Passport to Protection: A Guide to Birth Registration Programming (December 2013), at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/52b2e2bd4.html. 8 UNHCR, UNHCR Action to Address Statelessness: A Strategy Note (March 2010), p. 11f, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4b9e0c3d2.html. 9 UNHCR, Child protection Issue Brief: Birth Registration (August 2013), at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/523fe9214.html 2 CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS