MAPPING OF THE POPULATION AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS IN ALBANIA or if from a penal or civil trial the paternity of the child born outside wedlock is established either directly or indirectly, or when it is publicly known that he has recognized the child as his own. Therefore, theoretically, every child is entitled to birth registration regardless of family circumstances. However, things get more complicated when there are on-going family disputes, since parents become reluctant to register the birth of children born out of wedlock, for example. Thus, if the mother is married, her child can only be registered as a child of herself and her husband, even if her husband is not the biological father. Once the child is registered to the husband, by the time she divorces him and moves on to a new marriage with the child’s biological father, a new custody case shall be opened to re-designate the father. This type of custody cases often requires a court-authorized DNA test, which costs around EUR400-800. Thus, many parents decide not to register the birth of their child before family disputes are cleared, so as to avoid a more complex judicial procedure after divorce. Furthermore, the Family Code becomes a serious burden when the parents’ divorce case is protracted due to other civil disputes (property, custody, housing, pension, etc.), and they are unwilling to register the child’s birth under the husband (non-biological father). One possibility to solve this issue could be to ‘de-link’ birth registration and paternity determination, as it is the case in neighbouring Serbia, for example. If the birth registration could be completed without nominating the father, and if the mother could add the data of father at a later stage, it could avoid Court procedures on false paternity and correction.43 4.3.4. Birth registration and statelessness Birth registration can play a critical role in ensuring the recognition of a person’s entitlement to nationality by the state. In Albania, birth registration is strongly linked with acquisition of citizenship at birth and, indeed, citizenship is one of the key elements of identity established in an individual’s registration. As a result of various obstacles in the birth registration process, there are certain occasions when children have the right to Albanian citizenship (jus sangunis), but they are not recognised as nationals because they are not registered. The registration of children in the Republic of Albania is regulated through law no. 10129, dated 11 May 2009 “On Civil Status”. This law asserts that the parents bear primary responsibility for the registration of their children, and in case this procedure fails, it falls to the state institutions to carry out this procedure. Under Article 38(1) of the : “Birth as fact, time, location, gender and motherhood are verified with the birth assistance certificate, the medical report or record, compiled at the time of birth, which is proved by the present medical personnel, and in case of lack of medical personnel by the responsible person 43 Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Serbia [Serbia], 2004, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/4b56d0542.html [accessed 16 April 2018] 42 UNHCR - TLAS / May 2018