ship card (cédula de ciudadanía) after reaching majority at age 18. Competent national authorities oversee the processes for obtaining these documents on three distinct occasions. For populations living in remote areas or for those who flee violence and relocate to different parts of the national territory, as well as for children of undocumented migrants, these processes become burdensome or even impossible. The Colombian government has implemented some domestic policies to increase access to services, but challenges still remain. Article 25 of Law 1098 of 2006, the Children’s and Adolescent’s Code, establishes the right of every child and adolescent to an identity: “Children and adolescents have the right to an identity and to preserve the elements that constitute it like a name, a nationality and filiation in accordance with the law. To this end they shall be registered immediately after birth in the civil registry. They have the right to preserve their native language, culture and traditions.” The extent to which Colombia does or does not live up to the Children’s and Adolescent’s Code is unclear. Data provided by the Office of the Civil Registry was inconsistent,307 suggesting that the registry struggles with data collection and management. The registry could not supply statistics as to the number of children, if any, who were deemed nationals by virtue of the statelessness protection or proving domicile. If the registry does not track this population, there is no way to know if Colombia is meeting its obligations with respect to them. The process to secure such identity documents requires individual initiative to petition the appropriate national authorities and procure the relevant document. People denied documents can present an administrative appeal before the government authority that denied them,308 and can appeal to the administrative courts if the denial persists.309 In Colombia, birth registration is an expedited legal procedure, meant to provide universal public access.310 The offices of the National Civil Registry, a public notary, or, in the case of births that occur abroad, foreign consulates can register births in Colombia or to Colombian nationals. This action generates an entry in the Colombian Civil Registry 55, a database the National Civil Registry Office administers.311 The entity registering the child provides a personal identification number (Número único de identification personal), which appears on all future identity documents. Birth registration is free of charge. Parents wishing to register their children for a birth certificate listing Colombian nationality must present proof of live birth and proof of at least one parent’s nationality or domicile within Colombia. Proof of live birth can take three forms. For births that take place in clinics or hospitals within Colombia, the health institution provides the parents with a certificate of live birth (certificado de nacido vivo). Parents may also provide a baptism certificate to prove live birth. The parents must present the certificate to the 72 COUNTRY PROFILES l COLOMBIA