to bring maternal relatives to attest to the maternity of the children, but these relatives may be unknown, their whereabouts may be unknown, or they may refuse to cooperate.45 In cases of births and adoptions outside Zimbabwe, section 13(1) of the BDR Act and section 7(5) of the Citizenship Act, also discriminate against married women, and the children of female Zimbabwean citizens, in that citizenship may only be conferred by the father. 33. Studies have shown an increase in the number of home births due to the plummeting economic hardships restricting access to healthcare in Zimbabwe. Such births are difficult to register due to lack of evidence of the birth and witnesses (such as unregistered midwives) willing to come forward. Even those who give birth at hospitals have reported that hospitals are unlawfully withholding birth records due to nonpayment of fees.46 34. The Covid-19 pandemic has heightened the documentation crisis. The births and deaths registry stopped issuing out birth certificates for children born after 30 March 2020 when the government imposed a lockdown to fight the spread of the virus. The department has not provided information on the full extent of the backlog and the measures they will take to solve the crisis. Although the registry opened in May 2021 after the easing of the lockdown, the Department reported that they were only issuing about 80 - 90 birth certificates per day in major towns.47 35. Zimbabwe lacks clear guidelines and national procedures to address statelessness and risks of statelessness due to registration and documentation challenges. Due to the absence of a clear national policy framework on this matter, Zimbabwe’s authorities have not yet established internal institutional policies and (subsidiary) regulations.48 There is no policy to ease registration requirements where it is impossible for applicants to meet the requirements, and where a failure to do so would result in statelessness. The lack of an effective policy framework has led to the development of internal policies governing births and deaths registration which are being implemented inconsistently and in a discriminatory manner by different offices across the country.49 A significant number of people who technically qualify for birth and citizenship registration under the law continue to be prevented from exercising their rights due to a failure to meet the unclear bureaucratic requirements imposed on them. Issue II – Children’s right to a nationality 36. According to the 2013 Constitution, a child born in Zimbabwe automatically acquires Zimbabwean citizenship if their parent is a Zimbabwean citizen, or if any of their grandparents is a citizen by birth or descent. A child born outside Zimbabwe can acquire nationality by descent if either of the parents is a citizen and “ordinarily resident” in 45 Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Report on National Inquiry on Access to Documentation in Zimbabwe’, (April 2020), available at: http://www.zhrc.org.zw/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NI-Report-1.pdf. 46 Amnesty International, We Are Like ‘Stray Animals’. Thousands Living on the Margin due to Statelessness in Zimbabwe, Amnesty International, (April 2021), page 18, available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr46/3932/2021/en/. 47 Xinhua, ‘Zimbabwe starts issuing birth certificates to children born under lockdown’, Big News Network, (May 2021), available at: https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/269225450/zimbabwe-starts-issuing-birth-certificates-to-children-bornunder-lockdown. 48 Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Report on National Inquiry on Access to Documentation in Zimbabwe, (April 2020), page 48, available at: http://www.zhrc.org.zw/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NI-Report-1.pdf. 49 Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission, Report on National Inquiry on Access to Documentation in Zimbabwe, (April 2020), page 48, available at: http://www.zhrc.org.zw/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/NI-Report-1.pdf. 8