An infant is weighed as part of a routine medical examination at the main hospital in the coastal town of Vilanculos in Inhambanhe Province, Mozambique © UNICEF/ Thierry Delvigne-Jean. 4. Conclusions and recommendations This background note provides information about various legal and practical barriers that can affect women’s ability to register the birth of their children. Sex discrimination remains a serious barrier to registration in countries where only men are legally allowed to register a child, or when women are only permitted to do so in limited circumstances. Requirements in some countries that parents must present a valid marriage certificate when seeking to register the birth of a child leaves many children at risk of going unregistered. Indirect discrimination and certain cultural practices also pose a threat to registration. Birth registration is a fundamental human right and the first legal acknowledgement of a child’s existence. Without birth registration and birth certificates, children are invisible to their governments, and may be left stateless as a result of their inability to prove their entitlement to nationality. 14 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