MAPPING OF THE POPULATION AT RISK OF STATELESSNESS IN ALBANIA In Albania, there is a gap between the number of births proven through acts of birth from hospitals and maternity units, and the number of births registered in the civil status offices: indeed, the number of registered births reported by the General Directorate of Civil Status (which is the same number stated by INSTAT) is smaller than the number of births recorded by the Department of Statistics at the Ministry of Health which receives data from maternity units and/or health centres. A Feasibility Study for the need of establishing an electronic birth registration system, completed by TLAS with close collaboration of the General Directory of Civil Office and Ministry of Health, in 2013, found that difference between the birth number reported from Ministry of Health and the number of births registered by civil offices during the same Year is nearly 10%. However, considering the fact that civil status offices also registered children born outside the institutions we can reach the conclusion that the difference is even bigger, which means that a more in-depth analysis must be conducted.45 The law on Civil Status tries to pre-empt this problem by providing that: “All health centres, public or private, which are authorized to verify births, are obliged to send every Monday to the civil status offices where parents have their residence, information on births that occurred in the institution. Failure to comply with this provision is punishable by a fine equal to 50,000 Albanian Lek”. However, the Ministry of Health has not met this reporting requirement (the health centres are failing to make the aforementioned reports) and the Ministry of Interior has not applied so far, the penalty provided by the law. In conclusion, in the Albanian legal framework concerning statelessness, the identification of cases of statelessness is problematic, since there is no dedicated procedure. UNHCR supports the introduction of a stateless determination procedure, under the responsibility of a specialised public authority. Among other legislative gaps identified, a definition of statelessness is missing in the Law on Foreigners. In the Administration practice, there are obstacles to confirmation of citizenship for individuals who are entitled to it, because of difficulties arising from family disputes, birth registration of vulnerable Roma and Egyptians families, birth registration of Albanian children born abroad, and birth registration for children of foreign parents (even if lawfully residing in Albania). Lastly, as will be further developed under section 6., fees and expenses can constitute an additional obstacle for the most economically vulnerable. 45 See Ending Childhood Statelessness, A Study on Albania, TLAS/ENS Working Paper 05/15, p12, available at: http://www.tlas.org.al/sites/default/files/ENS%20-%20TLAS.pdf 44 UNHCR - TLAS / May 2018