CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA \Y issued by INVEA to civil registration officials provides a list of ethnic groups to be entered in the database; it is reported that applications may be rejected if a parent names an unlisted ethnic group.'4° The legal provisions for civil registration related to nationals and non-nationals, including refugees, are to be revised based on the findings and recommendations of a comprehensive assessment of the CRVS system in Ethiopia.‘ Somalia There is currently no legal or policy framework or institutions with the authority to maintain civil registration generally or birth registration in particular in any of the federal member states of Somalia.'*2 Registration of births was not compulsory for Somali “natives” in British-controlled Somaliland.'*® The independent Somalia gave “subjects” under 1963 law establishing local district councils the power Italian administration; local government to register the population nor for in the newly and maintain registers of births and deaths, but did not make it mandatory for these functions to be provided. '44 Even before the collapse of central government in 1991, birth registration was thus the exception rather than the rule. If a birth was registered, a local administration would create a family book and record the birth based on witnesses from the clan. This system broke down during the civil war, and most archives have been destroyed. Birth registration rates are very low, estimated at under 5 percent, and in practice there is little incentive for an ordinary Somali to seek to register the birth of a child: a birth certificate is required mainly for issue of a passport, which in turn is required only for international travel or formal employment. Issue of birth certificates for this purpose is a source of income for district administrations .'5 Since 2012, the government has been engaged in efforts to establish a functioning civil registration system, with a draft policy and outline law under discussion. In the meantime, children born in a medical facility may be issued a birth notification by that facility, and some municipal governments or consulates issue certificates of different types. '46 In Somaliland, a declaration of a birth can be made under oath (by affidavit), and such declarations are confirmed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Hargeisa.'*” A draft law on registration of births and 40 The Ethiopian Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Comprehensive Assessment Report (Draft), INVEA, March 2021. 41 Ibid; also information from INVEA, July 2021, in comments on this draft report. 142 UNICEF Somalia Child Protection Strategy Note 2018-2020 http://files.unicef.org/transparency/documents/Somalia%205.%20Child%20Protection.pdf. 43 tn common with similar rules in other British territories, the Births and Deaths Registration Regulations, 1904, provided for compulsory registration of the births of children of parents who were European or American only. 4 Law No. 19 of 14 August 1963 on Local Administration and Local Council Elections, article 9{1)(g). M5 Interview, UNICEF, 15 December 2020. 46 COI Report: South and Central Somalia - Country overview, European Asylum Support Office, August 2014 https://coi.easo.europa.eu/administration/easo/PLib/EASO-COlreport-Somalia_EN.pdf 47 Documents in Somalia and Sudan, Landinfo (Country of Origin information Centre), Oslo, 5 January 2009 hitp://citizenshiprightsafrica.org/documents-insomalia-and-sudan/; see also Somalia: Birth registration, including the issuance of birth certificates; the registration of children attending school; title deeds; whether the owner of a home or business must obtain a title deed (2009-June 2013), SOM104486.FE, Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, 26 June 2013 https://irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/country-information/rir/pages/index.aspx ?doc=454665&pls=1 See also information on authentication of documents sat the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website https://somalilandmfa.com/old/documentation-authentication.html. UNHCR — December 2021