10 1 NO CHILD SHOULD BE STATELESS on registry and health officials to report people without residence status to immigration authorities, can also prevent parents from registering their children’s birth.38 Children may routinely be registered as having the same nationality as their parents without any examination of whether a parent can actually confer their nationality to the child, which may hide (a risk of) statelessness among some children in migration born in Europe (or in transit). In some cases, only the mother’s details are recorded on the birth certificate if evidence of the father’s identity or a marriage certificate is missing, or if the parents are unmarried, which can be problematic where the mother’s country of nationality (such as Syria, Iran or Iraq) does not permit women to confer nationality to their children born abroad. The failure of authorities to accurately identify and register the nationality status of parents can mean that States are unaware or do not accept that a child born on their territory may be stateless. LACK OF PROVISION FOR CHILDREN BORN EN ROUTE TO EUROPE As highlighted above, children born in transit can face specific barriers to birth registration and documentation, establishing their identity and acquiring a nationality. Under international law, children born on a ship or in an aircraft that is respectively flagged or registered in a State are considered to have been born in that State’s territory.39 Birth registration procedures and nationality laws in the relevant State should therefore apply to the child. However, this prompts questions as to the nationality status of children born or found in international waters, on an unregistered vessel and there is little information available about how States deal with children born in transit.40 According to available information, some countries have no provisions to provide a birth certificate to children born in transit who reach their country of arrival without one, or existing provisions may depend on the residence status of the child or their parents, contravening the principle of non-discrimination.41 LACK OF AWARENESS AND POOR IDENTIFICATION OF STATELESSNESS Children in migration often encounter discrimination because there is no standard procedure in place in Europe to identify statelessness during nationality screening and registration procedures on arrival. In any nationality screening procedure, it is essential that competent authorities are trained and have the legal and language knowledge necessary to identify and record nationality status, including where someone indicates that they are stateless, and where further investigation is required by a competent authority. Determination of statelessness should only be conducted through a dedicated procedure established in law with procedural safeguards and by specialist officials trained for this purpose. Officials responsible for identifying and recording nationality status on arrival often lack awareness about statelessness and who might be affected, including children. Very little training or information resources are available to registration officials, which can lead to misconceptions about nationality status and statelessness.42 There may not even be an option for officials to record a person as stateless in registration recording systems and databases. There is also a lack of awareness among civil society actors about statelessness and nationality issues, including among child protection actors.43 Parents may also not be aware that their child is stateless or at risk. Where a child’s nationality is recorded as ‘undetermined’ or ‘unknown’, States should have an established and timely procedure for determining the child’s nationality and whether they would otherwise be stateless as soon as possible.44 Some States lack formal procedures altogether for determining the child’s nationality, whilst others make determination procedures dependent on the parents’ documentation or residence status or automatically assign children with their parents’ nationality without verification.45 These practices heighten the risk of children born in Europe or en route being unable to acquire or have their nationality confirmed for long periods of time, which can impact on subsequent treatment and perceived credibility in the status determination process, as well as in other procedures such as family reunification, resettlement, integration, or naturalisation.