MAPPING OF THE POPULATION AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS IN ALBANIA 4.3.2.2.3. Re-acquiring Albanian nationality Article 14 of the Albanian Law on Citizenship, notably, enables all persons who have renounced Albanian citizenship because they have been promised another citizenship, to re-acquire Albanian citizenship in a situation in which they do not acquire the promised citizenship within a reasonable period of time. In addition, Article 24 provides that: “The person who has renounced the Albanian citizenship before this law comes into force and does not have another citizenship is re-granted immediately Albanian citizenship based upon a request presented by him”. 4.3.3. Birth registration and paternity The 2009 Law on Civil Status regulates birth registration in its chapter 6 (Article 38-45). It should be noted that Albania does not have an electronic birth registration system: parents have to manually file an application form for birth registration after the birth of their baby. UNICEF is currently supporting the MoHSW and its subordinate entities to digitalise birth-related records within the health system, however, no intervention is currently planned for birth registration at the civil registry.42 The 2003 Family Code is linked to birth registration based on: 1) Article 43(4) of 2009 Law on Civil Status “Recognition and rejection of paternity and maternity are done according to criteria established in the Family Code”; its Article 165, “Maternity and paternity of a child born of a marriage are proven by the birth certificate, which is recorded in the civil registration office”; and its following chapters on maternity (Article 175-179) and paternity (Article 180-191). To summarize, the below articles of the Family Code are considered to be the most relevant to birth registration gaps in Albania: •Article 180 (1): “A child born during a marriage is presumed to be the child of the husband.” •Article 167: “Renunciation after the recognition of maternity or paternity of a child born out of wedlock is not allowed.” •Article 176 and 182: Maternity and paternity can be recognized for a child with unknown parents through a will. Such recognition cannot be revoked even if it was completed through a will. •Article 181: The father of a child born outside of wedlock is considered to be the adult male who recognizes him/her as their child. Recognition of paternity is valid when the mother has expressed her consent. •Article 189: The paternity of a child born out of wedlock can be certified by a court decision, if it is proved during the trial that at the time of conception of the child the father cohabitated with the mother of the child, or has engaged in sexual intercourse with or without violence, or has promised her marriage, 42 Studying and Evaluating the Situation for Enabling Electronic Registration of New-borns in Albania, TLAS-UNICEF, available at: http://www.tlas. org.al/sites/default/files/Executive%20Summary%20ne%20shqip.pdf UNHCR - TLAS / May 2018 41