THEMATIC BRIEFING | MAY 2020 Birth registration and the prevention of statelessness in Europe 3 1. BIRTH REGISTRATION AND PREVENTING STATELESSNESS Most, but not all of us, have had our births registered. Lack of birth registration is not the same as statelessness, yet it heightens the risk of leaving children without a nationality. Given the key information birth registration provides about individuals and their links to a State, either through the parents or place of birth, not having a birth registered or a birth certificate evidencing registration can contribute to difficulties establishing these links and consequently expose them to the risk of statelessness.7 Children in this situation face severe disadvantages accessing rights and services, including school, healthcare and social security, whilst also facing an increased risk of exploitation, such as child marriage, trafficking, forced recruitment and child labour. Whilst regional data suggests that Europe as a whole has high rates of birth registration,8 data analysis from the Statelessness Index demonstrates that barriers to birth registration in some countries in Europe persist, preventing universal birth registration from being realised across the region.9 There is no standardised procedure nor regional harmonisation of birth registration. As a consequence, some children continue to be at risk of statelessness and prevented from realising their rights in Europe. This briefing is the first in a series of thematic briefings and summarises how the 24 countries featured in the Statelessness Index perform against international norms and good practice in their birth registration law, policy and practice. It introduces the relationship between birth registration and the prevention of statelessness, provides an overview of norms and good practices on birth registration, and presents a state of play analysis on birth registration law, policy and practice in Europe using the data from the Statelessness Index. It highlights groups who are disproportionately affected by discriminatory barriers to birth registration and suggests key action areas for ensuring universal access to immediate, free birth registration as a way of safeguarding every child’s right to a nationality and preventing childhood statelessness in Europe. Stateless person A stateless person is defined in international law as someone “who is not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law”.2 This definition is part of customary international law and has been authoritatively interpreted by UNHCR as requiring “a mixed question of fact and law.”3 Person at risk of statelessness A person who either is not stateless but may become so; or whose statelessness may become evident over time. Hidden statelessness can come to light in an immigration detention context, as well as at different stages in migration or international protection procedures. Birth registration Birth registration is the official recording of a birth by a country’s civil registrar within the civil registry, which records both the incidence of the birth and its characteristics (such as the place of birth, and the parents).4 Birth registration takes place in line with a country’s legal requirements and authenticates a person’s existence in law, providing legal proof of and information about the person’s identity, which is vital information for securing the acquisition of a nationality. Birth certificate A birth certificate is a document issued by a country’s civil registrar. It provides proof that the child has had their birth registered and is essential evidence of a child’s family ties as well as their place of birth. These are key aspects of identity and can be critical to establishing the child’s nationality, as nationality is usually acquired either through the parents (jus sanguinis), the place of birth (jus soli), or a combination of the two. A birth certificate, therefore, acts as proof that the birth registration took place and of the child’s legal identity.5 Legal identity Legal identity is defined by the UN as the basic characteristics of a person’s identity, such as, name, sex, place and date of birth conferred through birth registration and the issuance of a birth certificate by an authorised civil registration authority. In the absence of birth registration, legal identity may be conferred by a legally recognised identification authority.6