Many countries have not yet transitioned from paper-based to digital civil registration systems. Digitization offers opportunities to overcome geographic and administrative obstacles to registration through the adoption of new technologies. While privacy risks need to be addressed carefully, digitized birth registration has the potential to strengthen civil registration and statistical systems. TRANSCRIPTION OF BIRTH CERTIFICATES INTO COUNTRY OF ORIGIN REGISTRIES – GHANA AND CÔTE D’IVOIRE In 2016, UNHCR entered into an agreement with the Ghanaian and Ivorian authorities to ensure that all Ivorian refugee children born in Ghana whose families decide to repatriate voluntarily to Côte d’Ivoire will have their births registered with the Ivorian authorities. The aim is to prevent cases of statelessness upon return. The transcription of Ghanaian birth certificates into Côte d’Ivoire’s civil registry takes place before return at the Embassy or Consulate of Côte d’Ivoire in Ghana. The birth is officially recorded in the consular registry, facilitating the child’s swift enrolment in Côte d’Ivoire’s national civil registry after return. The child’s parents are subsequently issued with an official transcription of the birth certificate issued in Ghana. As part of the legal support provided by UNHCR in the context of voluntary repatriation, UNHCR Ghana facilitates this procedure with the Embassy of Côte d’Ivoire before departure. The procedure is mandatory for all returning refugees with children born in Ghana in order to prevent statelessness. DIGITAL BIRTH REGISTRATION INITIATIVE ICIVIL – BURKINA FASO In Burkina Faso, births must be registered within two months.30 The introduction of a mobile system that allows children to be registered remotely is making birth registration much more accessible, especially to rural people who live far from a civil registry office.31 The recently launched mobile system iCivil creates a digital birth certificate using iCivil’s Android mobile application and a bracelet with a unique and unforgeable code (authenticator). A midwife attaches the bracelet to a baby’s wrist, scans the code using the app, and enters the newborn’s details on the mobile interface. An encoded text message is sent via iCivil’s platform to the civil registration authorities where the combination of SMS and the authenticator automatically generates a record of birth. The baby is thereby registered and a birth certificate with his or her ID code can be printed and collected from any civil registration centre in the country on presentation of the bracelet. When the system was trialled, 1,500 newborns were registered at 10 different health centres in the capital city of Ouagadougou between August 2015 and July 2016.32 èè Raising awareness Low levels of awareness in certain communities are an obstacle to birth registration in many countries. Through information campaigns and community-based outreach programmes, UNHCR and its partners are helping governments to raise public awareness of the importance of birth registration and associated procedures. Community and religious leaders play an important role in transmitting information to parents and families and explaining the different steps required. UNHCR’s partners also assist individuals to access and complete birth registration procedures. Mass awareness campaigns are often conducted in collaboration with relevant line Ministries. They include broadcasts on national television and radio, distribution of leaflets in local languages, use of visual images to improve take-up, and direct engagement with communities. In Lebanon, UNHCR and its partners use various approaches to make Syrian refugees more aware of birth registration. UNHCR has developed a joint procedure with the Ministry of Social Affairs (MOSA) to ensure that the composition of refugee families registered with UNHCR is updated as new births occur in Lebanon. To increase outreach and assist families, MOSA, UNHCR and partners offer individual counselling to parents 30 Burkina Faso, Code des personnes et de la famille, 1989, Art. 106, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b4da27.html. 31 At: http://www.icivil.bf/presentation_en.php. 32 At: http://goo.gl/3wQ7cL; and https://goo.gl/yc2ouS. 8 CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS