Measures taken In cooperation with UNHCR, civil society and other partners, the Government of Jordan adopted a range of measures and new approaches to improve the registration of Syrian refugee births. It (1) made birth and marriage registration procedures more accessible; (2) strengthened legal aid and counselling services; (3) engaged communities as agents of change; and (4) ensured access to good quality maternal health services. These measures addressed the obstacles to birth registration of refugee children born in Jordan, but also the obstacles faced by refugee children born in Syria whose parents had been unable to register their births before they fled. To respond to the most pressing legal and administrative hurdles that were preventing refugees from obtaining civil status documentation, the Syrian Refugee Affairs Division of the Jordanian Government convened an interagency roundtable discussion in cooperation with UNHCR that brought together UN agencies, UNICEF, UN Women, and different civil society actors, including those providing pro bono legal services. Held in June 2014, the event identified various solutions, including the creation of mobile courts and judicial and civil registration services in refugee camps. REGISTRATION OF SYRIAN REFUGEE CHILDREN BORN IN JORDAN Drawing on the roundtable’s findings, the Syrian Refugee Affairs Division and UNHCR established civil registration offices in Jordan’s two largest refugee camps, Zaatari and Azraq, and mobile registration services in the Emirati Jordanian Camp. These steps brought registration services much closer to camp-based refugees, facilitating the issuance of birth certificates to all children born in them. The Civil Status Department instructed Jordanian civil registry officers to facilitate the issuance of birth certificates to all Syrian refugee children born in the country. Recognizing the economic difficulties faced by refugee families across the country, it was further decided to waive fees and simplify the procedures for late birth registration.63 In 2017, the Government of Jordan introduced expedited court procedures for children who had not been registered in the first year of life. An important element of this new procedure was that the courts agreed to accept as evidence the service cards issued by the Ministry of Interior to all Syrians in Jordan, or alternatively the certificates that UNHCR issues to persons of concern which also contain basic bio-data. UNHCR supported the introduction of these procedures by supporting the work of its legal aid partners and running mass information campaigns to make refugees aware of them. To register the birth of a child, Jordanian law requires parents to provide an official marriage certificate. Recognizing that many refugee families could not do this, the Government introduced new provisions that made it easier for refugees to obtain official marriage registration documents. Official Shari’a courts and mobile judicial services were established in all camps as a result of UNHCR advocacy and consultation with the Supreme Judge Department; in parallel, Shari’a courts and the authorities also legalized informal (‘urfi’) marriages. The Government further instituted two waiver periods (in 2014 and 2015), during which Syrian refugees could regularize their marriages free of charge and without paying the penalty fees stipulated by law, which can exceed USD 1,500 per family. This measure had a significant impact. Around 3,000 refugee families benefited and were able not only to register their marriages, but also new births. Recognizing the prevalence of ‘urfi’ marriages among Syrian refugees in Jordan, UNHCR and the Government worked together to raise awareness of the importance of official marriage registration. Through the courts and mobile judicial services, Jordan’s judiciary acquired a better understanding of the factors that lead to statelessness among Syrian refugees and identified novel legal ways to resolve obstacles to birth registration. For instance, Shari’a courts instituted flexible evidentiary rules to facilitate the registration of undocumented marriages. These allowed an individual who knows a married couple to give evidence on their behalf, even if the individual was not an official witness to their wedding. The documentary requirements for registering new births have also been made more accessible to refugees. Photocopies of documents may 63 17 Applicants qualified for the waiver if they started to register later than 30 days but within one year of a birth. CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS