G.T.B. v. SPAIN JUDGMENT the birth certificates of the applicant and his brother in Mexico. The request was transferred to the Consul General of Spain in Mexico on 6 February 2004. 45. On 13 May 2004 the Consul General of Spain in Mexico replied that in the absence of further information about when the applicant and his brother had been initially registered in Mexico and further specific information about that registration, it had not been possible to find any documents. 46. On 21 October 2004 the judge at the Central Civil Registry requested Ms X to provide the birth certificates and all documentation available to her relating to her children (for example, medical or school-related documents) to prove their mother-son relationship. 47. On 11 January 2005 Ms X and her sons appeared at the La Laguna Civil Registry. She requested the urgent processing of the registration of her children’s births, alleging again that she had been unable to provide birth certificates since the documents relating to the births had been destroyed by the earthquake which had devastated Mexico and had led to their being repatriated on 20 October 1985. She explained that she had already submitted: (i) her own birth certificate; (ii) her passport, in which her children were included; (iii) a certificate of residence issued by the municipality; (iv) her social security card, on which the children were included; (v) a copy of the administrative file on the request for their birth registration; and (vi) several requests to the Central Civil Registry for registration of her sons. The La Laguna Civil Registry referred the request to the Central Civil Registry, which then forwarded it to the public prosecutor’s office, which on 26 January 2005 objected to the aforementioned registrations as the details of the births had not been proved. 48. As a result, in order to complete the evidence in the file, the Central Civil Registry agreed that the mother’s express recognition of the children should be given before a judge. 49. The applicant appeared at the public prosecutor’s office and the La Laguna Civil Registry in February and April 2005 to enquire about the proceedings for him to be able to obtain a birth certificate. The public prosecutor’s office sent two requests to the Central Civil Registry, in April and September 2005, to obtain information about the reasons for the delay. 50. On 13 May 2005, following the request from the Central Civil Registry, Ms X recognised her children at a hearing before a judge, and repeated that she did not have further documents. The applicant’s sister also attested to their relationship. The applicant and his brother consented to their recognition by their mother and their birth registration. They were all examined by a forensic doctor, who ratified their biological age, and decrees were published to make the recognition official. 8