According to international norms and good practice, national law and practice should provide that all children are registered immediately after birth regardless of ethnicity, disability, illness, migration, or residence status, sexual and/or gender identity of their parents or family members. 17 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.18 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. 19 Children born on the territory Of the 32 countries featured in the Statelessness Index, almost all demonstrate at least some good practice in this area, with the law in most cases providing that all births in the country are registered immediately regardless of the status of the child’s parents. However, often what varies is how this is then implemented in practice. An example of good practice in this area is the provision in law for flexibility in documentation requirements for groups of people 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). 20 Some countries, such as Austria, Czechia, 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. In other cases (including in Bulgaria, France, and Poland), whilst flexibility may not be provided for in law, documentation requirements are routinely waived in practice to facilitate birth registration. In Czechia, 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. 21 Other examples of good practice include the authorities having the power to initiate birth registration ex officio if parents miss the deadline, which is the case in Albania. In Greece, 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, to assist with the registration of the child’s birth.