certificates and identity cards (and marriage certificates if they are married), or "personal documents considered as proof of such data"23, are still in force. This practically means that if a mother does not possess such documents, it will not be possible to determine the personal name of the child and the child will remain unregistered in birth registry books. Consequently, the child will remain without citizenship. This undoubtedly leads to the violation of the best interests of the child and also constitutes the violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which stipulate that every child has the right to be registered into birth registry books and to have a personal name immediately after birth. In mid-October 2016, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and the Ministry of Health presented the project Baby, Welcome to the World. On that occasion it was announced that 25 maternity wards in Serbia began to implement a simplified procedure for the registration of birth and citizenship in birth registry books, for the registration of permanent residence and for the registration to health insurance. Accordingly, parents no longer need to go to the registry office, police station or branch office of the Republic Fund for Health Insurance after the child’s birth to determine the child’s personal name, register the child’s permanent residence or obtain a health card, but they do all the paperwork at the maternity ward, free of charge. Then they are supposed to receive a birth certificate, certificate of permanent residence and health card at their home address. It was announced that this system was expected to become a regular practice in the entire Serbia by the end of the year. The described procedure is regulated by the Instruction for conducting administrative procedures related to the child’s birth according to the “one-stop” system (Instruction). As a member of the Technical Group24, Praxis is acquainted with the content of this document. According to the Instruction, the new system of birth notification should allow the registration into birth registry books also for the children whose mothers do not possess personal documents. Thus, the Instruction envisages the registration of data only on the basis of mothers’ statements in such situations and that the parents can also determine the child’s name in a health care institution (but it does not provide for the possibility of registering permanent residence and registering to health care insurance). Then the child will be registered into birth registry books under the personal name determined by the parents, while the mother’s name would be entered based on the information she gave in the hospital. The Instruction also provides that “in case of the mother without personal documents, the registrar, together with the police officer, has to take appropriate steps immediately in order to check the mother’s identity“, and if the mother is a legally invisible person, the registrar and the police officer should undertake certain procedural actions and initiate the process of determining the facts about the mother, which will be used for her subsequent birth registration. On that occasion, the registrar will make a record that will be used for the mother’ subsequent birth registration and submit it to the registrar in the mother’s place of birth. The Instruction specifically mentions that "only in exceptional cases in which the 23 Article 5 of the Rulebook on the procedure for the issuance of birth notification and form of the issuance of birth notification in a health care institution (Official Gazette of RS, nos. 5/2011, 9/2016, 16/2016 and 36/2016) and points 10 and 24 of the Instruction on administering registry books and forms of registry books (Official Gazette of RS, nos. 109/2009, 4/2010, 10/2010, 25/2011, 5/2013 and 94/2013). 24 The Technical Group is a working body of the Management Board, established on the basis of the Agreement of Understanding concluded in 2012 between the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, Public Administration and Local Self-government, the Ombudsman and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - Representative Office in Serbia, with the task to monitor, implement and coordinate the activities relating to subsequent birth registration. 17

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