4. IMMEDIATE, FREE BIRTH REGISTRATION According to international norms and good practice, national law and practice should provide that all children are registered immediately after birth regardless of the residence status or documentation of the child or their parents.19 The requirement under Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to register the child ‘immediately after birth’ implies the need to register the birth as soon as possible and act with urgency, in a matter of days rather than months.20 Registration is more likely to happen immediately after the child is born and doing so increases the likelihood of accurately recording information about the birth.21 Good practice Of the 24 countries featured in the Statelessness Index, almost half demonstrate good practice in this area, with the law providing that all births in the country are registered regardless of the status of the child’s parents, and reporting this law as being implemented in practice. A key good practice in this area is the provision in law for flexibility in documentation requirements for groups less likely to be able to present certain documents (for example, accepting photocopies where original documentation has been lost or destroyed, or waiving documentation requirements and instead accepting declarations or witness statements).22 Some countries, such as Austria, the Czech Republic and Portugal provide for this, enabling parents who are less likely to be able to provide certain documents, such as refugees and asylum seekers, to register the birth of their child. Since August 2018, a new law in Greece provides that undocumented mothers about to give birth must be admitted to public hospitals and issued with an ad-hoc ID including their personal information based on a statement, in order to assist with the registration of the child’s birth. Flexible documentation requirements in the Czech Republic In the Czech Republic, different documents are required to register a child’s birth depending on the situation. In most cases, registration is carried out automatically by the health facility where the child was born. If the child is born at home and the parents are married, one must present their ID or passport; if they are unmarried, both present their birth certificates; if the father is unknown, the mother presents her birth certificate. The obligation to present documentation for birth registration can be waived in special circumstances, such as in the case of refugees and asylum seekers, with a solemn declaration provided instead, facilitating access to birth registration procedures.23 Barriers to immediate, free birth registration Conditions relating to the documentation or residence status of the parents Just over half of countries in the Statelessness Index demonstrated some barriers to immediate, free birth registration either in law, policy or practice. The barriers identified include strict and numerous evidential requirements, and access to birth registration being dependent on the parents’ residence or documentation status in some countries. In Latvia, North Macedonia,