UNDERSTANDING STATELESSNESS IN THE SYRIA REFUGEE CONTEXT  to a family (whose priority is the new-born baby and not preserving this notification), it can help to ensure that the document is given in a plastic sealed envelope, which could also later be used to store other documents, or to photocopy or photograph important documents.207 4.2.2 REFUGEES NOT REGISTERED WITH UNHCR In refugee contexts, registration with UNHCR plays a vital role. As UNHCR explains: “registration of refugees with UNHCR, by providing a record of their status, helps protect refugees”.208 UNHCR registration helps to preserve proof of refugees’ identity and links to their country of origin. For undocumented refugees who do not have a residence permit in their place of exile, the registration with UNHCR is often the only process through which their presence in the host State, links with their State of origin and very existence is recorded.209 The UNHCR registration and verification processes offer the opportunity to check and record civil registration documents possessed by refugees as well as making scans or copies of these documents so that there is a record/paper trail, in case of loss of documents after displacement.210. As such, UNHCR registration is an important source of proof of identity and nationality for refugees. A refugee who is registered with UNHCR is also easier to contact or to inform of the risks of statelessness and the steps they have to take to prevent this, or to provide information on civil registration procedures. A document that proves registration with UNHCR also often helps to facilitate freedom of movement. Moreover, without UNHCR registration, refugees can face difficulties accessing humanitarian assistance. This can mean, for instance, that they may have to pay for healthcare.211 Unregistered families in Northern Lebanon, for example, may resort to homebirths because they cannot afford hospital care. This means that they do not necessarily receive a birth notification which is required in order to register a child’s birth, thus increasing the child’s risk of statelessness.212 Throughout the region, not all refugees from Syria have registered with UNHCR, although the number of unregistered refugees is not known.213 Some refugees choose not to register with UNHCR214 because they do not understand the benefit in such registration, they are unaware of the process, or because they are fearful of having their information shared with the country of origin.215 Another cause of non-registration is physical access to registration services, including transportation costs, constraints on free movement particularly where access to UNHCR registration centres requires crossing security checkpoints.216 In North Lebanon, for example, there is only one registration centre – in Tripoli – which serves a wide area, in which checkpoints are commonplace.217 In Egypt, initially, registration took place only in Cairo, and many refugees had to travel several hours to make themselves known to UNHCR. However, in response to this problem, UNHCR established mobile registration units in areas where large numbers of Syrian 207 Interview with Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), Irbid Jordan, July 2016. 208 UNHCR, ‘Registration’, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/registration.html. 209 Note that in Turkey, refugee registration is conducted by the State, rather than UNHCR. See above, section 2.2. 210 Interview with registration officer, Erbil KRI, July 2016. 211 Interview with International Medical Corps (IMC), Duhok KRI, July 2016. 212 Interview with Mokhtar, Baalback Lebanon, June 2016. 213 In Lebanon, for instance, estimates are reported to range from 200,000 to 400,000. D. Mitri, Challenges of aid coordination in a complex crisis: An overview of funding policies and conditions regarding aid provision to Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Civil Society Knowledge Center, Lebanon Support, 2014, available at: http://www.alnap.org/resource/20094. 214 See more generally on refugees’ resistance, in some cases, to identification, B. Manby, Identification in the context of forced displacement, supra n5, page 22. 215 Lebanon Humanitarian INGO Forum (LHIF), Background Paper on Unregistered Syrian Refugees in Lebanon, 2014, available at: http://lhif.org/uploaded/News/d92fe3a1b1dd46f2a281254fa551bd09LHIF%20 Background%20Paper%20on%20Unregistered%20Syrian%20Refugees%20(FINAL).pdf 216 See, NRC, The challenges of birth registration in Lebanon for refugees from Syria, supra n15. 217 Interview with NRC ICLA, Tripoli Lebanon, June 2016. RESEARCH REPORT 41