1. Right to identity: birth registration, name, nationality, and family relations Birth registration: UNICEF notes that “society first acknowledges a child’s existence and identity through birth registration. The right to be recognized as a person before the law is a critical step in ensuring lifelong protection and is a prerequisite for exercising all other rights.”1 A birth certificate documents the facts of a child’s birth – such as date, place of birth, family relations and name. Specifically the information concerning the place of birth and parentage is crucial for asserting a child’s right to nationality. Despite the right to birth registration, an estimated 200 million children under the age of five do not have a birth certificate, including an estimated 150 million children who are not registered.2 Poverty3 and discrimination4 are among the main obstacles to accessing birth registration. Discriminatory civil registration laws may require both parents to register a child, allow only the father or other male family members to register the child, permit the mother to register the child only in exceptional circumstances, or require a marriage certificate – sometimes placing this requirement solely on women.5 Linking birth registration with the legal status of parents is a major cause of discrimination and results in the non-registration of children. Even if laws are not discriminatory, practices may be and lead to the exclusion of women and girls, including from vulnerable and migrant groups. For example, countries have developed strategies to restrict access to birth certificates for babies born to migrant women with temporary or irregular status, aiming to deter their permanent settlement. Moreover, while CEDAW guarantees women equal access to healthcare and administrative services, including birth registration (Art. 12), migration enforcement policies in countries deter undocumented women from accessing hospitals or registries due to deportation fears. These practices disproportionately affect marginalized women, contravening CEDAW’s principles. Additional challenges disproportionately affect children born as a result of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV).6 The meeting will also be an opportunity to discuss the lack of identity for children born of CRSV given the significant challenges they face. Substantial efforts are needed to register all newborns at birth and clear the backlog of unregistered children to recover from the full impact of the pandemic and accelerate the progress to achieve the 2030 Agenda of legal identity for all, including universal birth registration. Various strategies have already driven considerable progress, including those that simplified business processes, increased interoperability across sectors, and increased demand through policy and legislative reforms such as decentralisation and digitalisation. States should also decouple migration enforcement from public services such as prohibiting registrars from reporting undocumented migrants. Nationality: At the end of 2023, UNHCR statistical reporting included 4,4 million stateless persons and persons with undetermined nationality covering 95 countries – although the actual global figure is expected to be significantly higher.7 One of the key causes of statelessness is gender discriminatory nationality laws and other laws such as civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) as discussed above. Art. 9 of the CEDAW guarantees equal nationality rights, including in the transmission of nationality to children. Yet, in 24 countries, women are denied this right. When a child cannot acquire nationality through their mother, and the father is unable or unwilling to take administrative steps to confer his, the child may be left stateless.8 This denial of a child’s right to nationality is a clear violation of the child’s best interests. In addition to gender discrimination, statelessness among children can result from discriminatory laws, policies and practices that 1 UNICEF. (2019). Birth Registration for Every Child by 2030: Are we on track? UNICEF. https://data.unicef.org/resources/birth-registration-for-every- child-by-2030/ 2 UNICEF (2024). The Right Start in Life: Global levels and trends in birth registration, UNICEF, December 2024, https://data.unicef.org/resources/the-right-start-in-life-2024-update/ 3 Op. Cit at 2.. 4 Loc. Cit. See also UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (2021, July). UNHCR and UNICEF: Background Note on Sex Discrimination in Birth Registration. https://www.refworld.org/docid/60e2d0554.html 5 Ibid. 6 Global Survivors Fund (2024) Children born of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and Rights to Identity https://www.child-identity.org/childrenborn-of-conflict-related-sexual-violence-and-rights-to-identity/ 7 UNHCR, Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2023. https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends-report-2023 8 UNHCR/UN Women. Background note on Gender Equality, Nationality Laws and Statelessness 2025 https://www.refworld.org/reference/themreport/unhcr/2025/en/149603