G.T.B. v. SPAIN JUDGMENT 3. The Government were represented by Mr L. Vacas Chalfoun, co-Agent of Spain to the European Court of Human Rights. 4. The facts of the case may be summarised as follows. I. THE APPLICANT’S BACKGROUND AND EDUCATION 5. The applicant was born on 15 August 1985 in Mexico, to a Spanish mother who had been born in Venezuela (“Ms X”). His birth was never registered with the Civil Registry in the Spanish Consulate in Mexico. 6. Shortly after the applicant was born, an earthquake caused significant damage in Mexico. In October 1985 Ms X applied to be repatriated from Mexico with her sons (her elder son, then three years old, and the applicant, who was then two months old), at the expense of the Relief and Repatriation Fund of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The children were included in their mother’s passport. The family took up residence in San Cristóbal de la Laguna, Tenerife (Spain). 7. Ever since their repatriation, the applicant and his family have resided in Tenerife. Upon his arrival there, the applicant was not registered as having been born in Mexico. 8. From 29 December 1989 until 15 January 1991 the applicant and his older brother lived in a children’s foster centre under the care of the public authorities after they had been voluntarily given up by Ms X, who claimed to be ill, to have insufficient economic means and to be unable to take care of them. They were released on 15 January 1991 after their mother had stated that she wanted to take them back to live with her. There was no judicial intervention in respect of that decision. 9. The applicant started using illicit substances (hashish) in 1992, at the age of seven. 10. According to the applicant, he was enrolled in a primary school (“school A”) from 22 October 1993 to November 1993. He submitted to the Court a certificate issued by that primary school, according to which he had been enrolled on those dates, but he was unable to provide any academic report confirming that he had ever attended the school. He claimed that his mother had tried to enrol him in another primary school, but had been unable to do so owing to the lack of requisite documents. 11. In 1994, when the applicant was nine years old, he was enrolled in and began attending another public school (“school B”) in Tenerife. According to his school reports, he did not know how to read or write at that age. 12. In March 1995 the applicant was transferred to another public school (“school C”), also in Tenerife. During the 1995/96 academic year he was enrolled in the fourth grade of primary school. In the 1996/97 academic year, the applicant was enrolled in the fifth grade of primary school. He was also enrolled for three hours a week in a public supplementary education 2