CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA 4. Nationality administration In practice Birth registration The right to birth registration is enshrined in many international human rights instruments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, and the Convention on the Rights of persons with Disabilities. Universal birth registration has long been an international objective. Yet, with the exception of Djibouti, birth registration rates in the Horn of Africa are amongst the lowest in the world. As at the date of this report, no official statistics were available for Eritrea'®*, and the latest published statistics for Ethiopia and Somalia generally were 3 percent of children under five with birth registration, as at 2016 and 2006, respectively.'°° Ethiopia had improved its rate to more than 16 percent of children under one year old by the end of 2020.'°6 In Djibouti, by contrast, registration rates were reported to have reached 93 percent of under-fives in 2006, and in the city of Djibouti (home to more than half the population) to have reached 99 percent or more by 2018; in rural areas, however, only around 80 percent of births are registered.'°” Birth registration is critical for the establishment of the child’s nationality. Although birth registration does not (in most countries) record or prove the nationality of the child him or herself, it provides the information on the basis of which nationality can be determined: place and date of birth, and identity of the parents. In the absence of timely birth registration, other routes to prove this information are needed, including the acceptance of whatever other documentary exists, and witness testimony. Gender discrimination in birth registration procedures also creates risks of statelessness, by increasing the likelihood that a birth is not registered. For example, presence of both parents is required (in case a if only the mother may register a birth, or the birth is out of wedlock), or if only the father can register a birth (if in wedlock). 104 Concluding Recommendations by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) on the State of Eritrea’s Report on the Status of Implementation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, January 2017 https://acerwc.africa/wpcontent/uploads/2018/14/Concluding_%20Observations_% 20Eritrea.pdf 10 Birth registration of under fives is a statistic collected by the Demographic and Health Survey programme funded by USAID (available at https://dhsprogram.com/Where-We-Work/Country-List.cfm), and by the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (available at http://mics.unicef.org/surveys). See also UNICEF database on birth registration available at https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/birth-registration/. 106 Figure for Ethiopia 2020 supplied by UNICEF Ethiopia office May 2021. 107 Committee on the Rights of the Child, “Combined third to fifth periodic reports submitted by Djibouti under article 44 of the Convention, due in 2012”, CRC/C/DII/3-5, 27 January 2020; “L’Etat civil de la République de Djibouti”, Ministére de I’Interieur, Mars 2018, Presentation, UNSTATS Workshop on the Operation of Civil Registration, Vital Statistics and Identity Management Systems and the Production of Vital Statistics Reports for the Eastern Mediterranean Region Countries (Group1), Casablanca, Morocco, 19-23 March 2018 available at https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographicsocial/meetings/2018/Casablanca/ 34 UNHCR — December 2021