Illustrative Scenarios 1 In South Africa, unmarried fathers cannot register the births of their children in the absence of or without the consent of the mother. This can place the child at risk of statelessness if the mother is undocumented, missing or deceased. LHR, representing the Centre for Child Law, launched a constitutional challenge to this provision in the Births and Deaths Registration Act after Mr. Naki (a South African citizen) could not register the birth of his new daughter because the mother (a DRC citizen) was unable to renew her expired visa close to the time she was due to give birth. 2 LHR assists an increasing number of South African citizens with blocked / duplicate identity documents. These clients only realise their IDs are blocked after trying to apply for a travel document or to access their bank accounts and do not receive any prior notice or an opportunity to challenge the decision to block their IDs. This constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of nationality as the Constitution stipulates that all administrative action must be procedurally fair, lawful and reasonable. It can take the Department of Home Affairs years to resolve the situation while the affected person’s life is in limbo. Without an ID, one cannot register for school, register a birth, get a job, access a bank account or a social support grant.