In some countries, national ID cards are only issued at the age of majority, while the issuance of passports may be subject to discriminatory and procedural barriers for various categories of children such as those born to foreign fathers. In these contexts a birth certificate often serves as temporary proof of nationality until the age of majority is reached in order to access education and healthcare. Certain population groups experience more challenges in accessing birth registration than others. Nomadic and border-dwelling populations, for instance, are more likely to experience geographical obstacles when attempting to access birth registration services. Lack of a birth certificate may place them and their children at particular risk of statelessness given that they may be perceived as not fully belonging to the country or countries in which they reside. Members of minority groups may also find it difficult to access civil registration and documentation on an equal basis with their fellow citizens, which can put them at risk of statelessness. Migrants in an irregular situation, asylum seekers and refugees may not have the information they need about how to register the birth of children or may not want to approach birth registration authorities for fear of detention or deportation. Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) may have lost their own documents in flight, which can make it harder to register their children. They may also experience difficulties in accessing birth registration in the country or place of refuge. Unaccompanied, separated and abandoned children often lack documents establishing their identity, creating a risk of statelessness. Birth registration and non-discrimination against women as fundamental human rights Birth registration is a fundamental right and States have a duty to register all births that occur in their territory irrespective of the legal status of the parents.9 The Convention on the Rights of the Child provides in Article 7 (1): ‘The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.’ As the fulfilment of the right to be registered is closely linked to the realization of other rights, the obligation on States to register the birth of children is also found in several other widely ratified international human rights treaties. Article 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) requires States to conduct birth registration immediately after birth and without discrimination of any kind. 9 UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment 17 on Article 24 (Rights of the Child), April 1989, paras. 7-8. See http://www. refworld.org/docid/45139b464.html; OHCHR, Birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law, 17 June 2014, paras 11 and 85(a); and UNHCR, Conclusion on civil registration No. 111 (LXIV)-2013, 17 October 2013. See http://www.refworld.org/docid/525f8ba64.html; UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 7 (2005): Implementing Child Rights in Early Childhood, 20 September 2006, para. 25. See http://www. refworld.org/docid/460bc5a62.html 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 5