CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA \Y necessary infrastructure recommendation system for any functioning government. Perhaps the most important of this report would be that the initiatives to strengthen identification systems should pay careful attention to the protection of the right to a nationality and the reduction of statelessness right from the moment of design. This will include law reform to provide minimum protections against statelessness, rights of review and appeal, and legal assistance for those who face difficulties proving their nationality. Universal birth registration is particularly important to the establishment of the right to a nationality for every child (either of the state of birth or of the state of origin of one of the parents). There is extensive international guidance available on the establishment of civil registration systems.°?9 Birth registration does not, however, provide a complete solution to the problem of statelessness unless it is accompanied by law and policy reform to provide at least the minimum rights to nationality outlined in international law, including the right to nationality of the state of birth if the child would otherwise be stateless; and to establish child protection systems recognised and documented that ensure that children at risk of statelessness are in practice as nationals of the state of birth or, where appropriate, the state of origin of their parents.%9° In a context where civil registration is currently very incomplete, the achievement of universal birth registration would, in any event, only create a documentary record of all adult residents after a delay of 70 years or more. Adult registration processes are therefore required for registration to be completed. In some countries where birth registration was low, registration rates have been rapidly increased by processes to establish late registration of birth, fully integrated into existing civil registration systems.**' In others, there have been free-standing adult registration drives, in which a range of different types of evidence have been accepted that a person is a national. The proposal in Somalia for the creation of a biometric database of all residents, without distinction as to nationality or not, is loosely based on the biometric identity system in India known as the “Aadhaar” number, rolled out for all residents of India. This proposal has a certain attraction in a state where existing identity infrastructure is weak, and where the nationality status of many is uncertain. However, there is a need for careful debate and consideration as to whether an identity register delinked from civil registration, voter registration, nationality administration and other efforts to (re)constitute the state and effective government is the best solution to the most pressing problems related to identification in Somali society. The status of minorities in Somalia as full citizens of the modern state has been controversial for many decades. Their future ability to participate in politics and society will depend ultimately on their 323 UN Statistics Division, ‘Handbook on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems: Preparation of a Legal Framework’, Studies in Methods, Series F (New York: United Nations, 1998), https://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/SeriesF/SeriesF_71E.pdf; UN Statistics Division, ‘Guidelines on the Legislative Framework for Civil Registration, Vital Statistics and Identity Management; Second Draft’ (New York: United Nations, January 2019), https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/Standards-and-Methods/files/Handbooks/crvs/CRVS_GOLF_Final_Draft-E.pdf; UN Statistics Division, ‘Principles and Recommendations for a Vital Statistics System, Revision 3’, Statistical Papers, Series M (New York: United Nations, 2014), http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/standmeth/principles/M19Rev3en. pdf. 330 Manby, “Legal Identity for All’ and Statelessness’. 331 This was the case in South Africa, for example. Jaap van der Straaten and Anna Zita Metz, ‘South Africa ID Case Study’, Identification for Development Initiative (World Bank, 2019), http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/315081558 706143827/South-Africa-ID-Case-Study. UNHCR — December 2021