2.1 Legal barriers affecting women’s ability to register the birth of their children In many contexts, women face legal barriers that impinge on their ability to register the birth of their children and thus potentially violate the right of their children to birth registration. Provisions found in birth registration laws, civil codes, family laws, marriage laws and even criminal laws may explicitly exclude women from registering births; fail to include women among the listed persons authorized to do so; only allow women to register births in exceptional circumstances; or only allow women to register births when they can prove that the child was born in wedlock. Women barred from registering the birth of their children or are not explicitly mentioned in relevant laws In some countries, women are not allowed to register the births of their children under any circumstances. Children’s births may be registered only by fathers or another male family member, while the mother is explicitly excluded from registering the birth of the child. In other contexts, the primary responsibility for registering the birth of a child falls to the father and if he is not available, on a variety of other individuals in a specified order—a person is made responsible only if the preceding individuals are unavailable. The other individuals often include adult relatives, doctors, midwives, and others who attended the birth, such as tribal chiefs, while the mother is not included in the list. Depending on how this silence with respect to the mother is interpreted, such provisions can have the effect of denying her the possibility of registering the birth of her child. For example, under Djibouti’s Civil Code,15 women are not permitted to register the births of their children. In all cases, births may only be registered by the father. If the father is not available, registration can be done by the doctors, midwives, health workers or other persons who attended the birth. In Tunisia, Law No. 1957-3, 1957, Article 24 provides that: “Birth shall be declared by the father, or the doctors, midwives or other persons who attended the birth and, when the mother has given birth outside her home, if possible, by the person with whom she gave birth.” There is no express mention of the mother. Women can only register the birth of their children in exceptional circumstances In many countries, birth registration laws mention the father as the primary person responsible for initiating birth registration and only in exceptional instances is the mother entitled to do so. In these contexts, the mother becomes responsible in case the father is incapable, deceased, ill, absent, or otherwise unable to register the birth. If the father is capable of registering the child but either decides not to do so or passively fails to register the birth, the child’s birth may go unregistered. To make clear that the father cannot register the child, some laws require the mother to have an authorisation letter or special power of attorney. 15 Article 87, Loi No. 003/AN/18/8eme/L portant Code Civil, 2018. 8 B AC KG R O U N D N O T E O N S E X D I S C R I M I N AT I O N I N B I R T H R E G I S T R AT I O N