Birth registration is a vital, permanent record of a child’s identity, and indeed their existence. As well as providing important details about their parents, birth certificates are essential proof of age – allowing children to be recognised as children in need of additional protection and support. Failure to provide children with birth certificates exposes them to a range of age-related abuse and exploitation. Girls are especially vulnerable to child marriage, which is not only a violation of their rights as children but also often leads to deprivation of other rights, particularly the right to education. Child marriage also increases the likelihood of early pregnancy, which significantly increases girls’ risk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth. Meanwhile, boys are vulnerable to child labour and exploitation, and older boys without identity documentation are at particular risk of arrest and detention for immigration-related offences. In the four countries that host Rohingya refugees, birth certificates do not confer nationality or citizenship status, and the process for registering births is completely separate to the process for acquiring citizenship rights. This can create further challenges to acquiring a nationality, in particular where processes are discriminatory or bureaucratic, or otherwise not fully implemented. The result is that most Rohingya children born in these territories are rarely granted citizenship rights and as a result effectively remain stateless.24 This is a violation of obligations under the UNCRC, which provides that all children have the right to acquire a nationality, and requires states to implement this obligation “in particular where the children would otherwise be stateless”.25 Lack of identity documentation and legal status follows Rohingya children throughout their lives, and as they grow older prevents them from exercising other rights, such as the right to employment, to marry, to access social security, and to enjoy the full protection of the law. These restrictions – in particular restrictions on access to work – go on to adversely impact their children, and their children’s children, exposing the community to intergenerational and ever-expanding cycles of discrimination and marginalisation. 2 REGIONAL OVERVIEW begins at birth as the vast majority of Rohingya children do not have a birth certificate, which is vital for obtaining civil documentation – something that is already extremely difficult for Rohingya to obtain.23 Rohingya children living outside of Myanmar also struggle to obtain official documentation. Despite the huge numbers of Rohingya now living in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh does not issue new-born Rohingya children with birth certificates, in violation of its own laws on birth registration. Although Rohingya children born in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia are entitled to a birth certificate, these can be difficult to obtain in practice – in particular, for undocumented parents who fear arrest and imprisonment if they are found to be living ‘illegally’ in the country. 2.4 LIMITED ACCESS TO EDUCATION Across the region, Rohingya children struggle to access comprehensive, quality, safe and inclusive education. In Myanmar, Rohingya children face multiple restrictions on their ability to access formal education. In villages and towns across Rakhine State, various factors adversely impact Rohingya children’s access to education: restrictions on movement of Rohingya, the reluctance of government teachers to teach in Rohingya schools, and intercommunal fears and distrust. Rohingya children who flee Myanmar also face serious challenges to accessing education. The fact that many children have already experienced years of deprivation of access to education in Rakhine State makes the situation especially alarming. Both Bangladesh and Malaysia officially prohibit Rohingya refugees from accessing formal education, and as a result, they rely on UN agencies, NGOs, and the local community to provide informal education. However, even these services are often insufficient, and while there is greater provision for primary-age children, secondary education is extremely limited. Education in these countries is also not accredited, which means that Rohingya who do manage to attend schools leave without officially recognised qualifications that would enable them to continue their studies or seek skilled and better-paid employment opportunities. Thailand and Indonesia have more progressive policies to ensure that refugee and undocumented children can access education at all levels. However, in practice, implementation can be patchy and Rohingya children continue to fall through the net. Across the region, children with disabilities often do not get the specialist support they require. Children who drop out of school early are at much greater risk of child labour, and adolescent boys in particular are 5