Thematic report 03 August 2021 BANGLADESH Impact of the suspension of birth registration on the host community in Cox’s Bazar OVERVIEW On 19 September 2017, the Cox’s Bazar district administration suspended the process of registering births and issuing birth certificates for Bangladeshi citizens. The suspension was established soon after the influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to prevent Bangladeshi birth certificates from being issued to Rohingya refugees through fraudulent channels (The Daily New Nation 15/07/2020; Human Rights Watch 03/12/2019). The suspension was reversed in November 2019 and from 1 September 2020, local authorities were authorised to resume issuing birth certificates (The Daily Star 05/11/2019). However, the resumption included new conditions for registration (KII 08/04/2021; KII 16/06/2021). At the time of writing, only 12 of the 71 union parishads and all four municipalities have resumed birth registration under the high court ruling (KII 08/04/2021). Birth registration is only partially operational across Cox’s Bazar district, and its residents face additional challenges now that the process has changed and is different from that of the rest of the country. Nationally, birth certificates became mandatory proof of identity in 2014, and Cox’s Bazar residents had a narrow window to register births before the suspension. A birth certificate is a prerequisite for both accessing various government services. While loopholes and informal channels currently enable children under 18 to access education and healthcare, these workarounds will likely end once the system is fully digitised. This report provides an overview of the potential implications of the suspension of birth registration in Cox’s Bazar district from 2017–2020. It outlines the birth registration process, the procedural changes made since 2020, and what these changes mean for host community children and adults in Cox’s Bazar. The three-year suspension has reportedly negatively affected social cohesion between the host and refugee communities. Some members of the host community have used local news outlets and social media platforms to air their grievances about the impact of hosting the refugee population. This report is intended to support programming in the host community. There is no accurate information on the number of children born in Cox’s Bazar since 2017. Birth rates must be estimated and projected using statistics from the 2011 census. People registering births are required to provide additional documents. The added logistical and administrative costs of obtaining those documents may prevent vulnerable households from being able to register new or late births. It is common practice for families in Cox’s Bazar to register births just before children are enrolled in school. The temporary suspension of registration Methodology and limitations has most likely affected children born between 2012–2016 who need to access education now. Loopholes in the law currently allowing children to The report draws on publicly available secondary data on the documentation processes for Bangladeshis and was attend school without birth documentation may be closed in the future. supplemented with four semi structured interviews with operational humanitarian actors. Information about birth registration is difficult to find. Presumably, some people use unofficial and illegal means to obtain birth certificates retroactively, but information on this has not been clearly documented. While this report aims to highlight the possible short- and long-term consequences of lack of birth registration, the extent of the impact is still unknown. Documentation challenges for the host community remain largely unexplored, and those most affected by the suspension are still too young to need birth certificates for many services. 1 KEY FINDINGS Any comments or questions? Please contact us at info@acaps.org The inability to procure a birth certificate between 2017–2020 may result in a range of implications for adults born in those years – from access to income generation to freedom of movement. A person whose birth was not registered will not automatically receive a national identity (NID) card at age 18.