acquisition of German nationality of the child, and the law to which the child's name is
subject. Registry officials will check whether the child of foreign parents has acquired
German nationality by birth. However, there is a risk that children are kept in limbo for
more than five years as the relevant documents to obtain a birth certificate (rather than
an extract) from the registrar can be submitted later, and there is no time limit for the
procedure. Late birth registration is possible in law but requires habitual residence and
a travel document, which presents barriers in practice. There is a fee for late registration
of a birth abroad, which varies between federal Lands (e.g. 90 to 145 EUR in Greifswald
and 80 to 160 EUR in Berlin). The fees are particularly high if foreign law applies. Other
related fees may apply, too.
41. There are credible reports to parliament, by civil society, and the Committee on the
Rights of the Child,51 of refugees and undocumented migrants facing barriers to birth
registration due to missing documents or fear of being deported. If undocumented
migrants do not give birth in hospital due to a fear of the authorities, the birth would
not be automatically registered.
Recommendations
42. Based on the above information, the co-submitting organisations urge reviewing States
to make the following recommendations to Germany:
I.
Withdraw all reservations to the 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of
Stateless Persons, the European Convention on Nationality, and the 1961
Convention, in line with Germany's pledge at the UNHCR High Level Segment
on Statelessness in 2019.
II.
Harmonise and disaggregate quantitative data on stateless persons in
Germany, build the capacity of officials to accurately identify and record
statelessness across government agencies at all administrative levels, and
consider carrying out a comprehensive exercise to accurately map the
stateless population in Germany.
III.
Establish a national statelessness determination procedure and protection
status in law and in line with good practice to give full effect to the rights
enshrined in the 1954 Convention to stateless people in Germany, including
residence rights.
IV.
Provide training to public officials on nationality and statelessness at all
administrative levels, and ensure there is clear and accessible information for
stateless people on how to access protection and regularise their status, as
well as acquisition of nationality for otherwise stateless children born in
Germany.
51
See e.g. Deutsches Institut für Menschenrechte, Die Politik muss dafür sorgen, dass Kinder von Geflüchteten
Geburtsurkunden erhalten, Press release, 1 June 2016; Geburtsurkunden von Flüchtlingskindern [Birth certificates of refugee
children] BT-Drucksache 18/9163 (13 July 2016); Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding observations on the
combined third and fourth periodic reports of Germany*, 25 February 2014, UN Doc CRC/C/DEU/CO/3-4; Deutsches Institut für
Menschenrechte, Monitoring-Stelle UN-Kinderrechtskonvention, ‘Keine Papiere – keine Geburtsurkunde? Empfehlungen für
die Registrierung von in Deutschland geborenen Kindern Geflüchteter᾿ (Position Nr. 18, Dezember 2018) 1 [German Institute
for Human Rights, National CRC Monitoring Mechanism, ‘No papers – No birth certificate? Recommendations for the
registration of children of refugees born in Germany’ (Position No 18, Dec 2018) 1]:
https://www.institut-fuermenschenrechte.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Publikationen/POSITION/Position_18_Keine_Papiere_keine_Geburtsurkunde.pdf.
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