Eve – Age 8 Sarah – Age 17 “I wish I could stay with my grandparents” “ Eve was born in Ghana to a Lebanese mother. Her father was a South African citizen, however, he died in Ghana before her birth was registered in South Africa and her South African citizenship confirmed. Her mother was unstable and gave up guardianship to Eve’s South African grandparents in South Africa where she came live. The South Africa government has refused to register her birth and recognise her as a South African, because the BDRA does not allow legal guardians to register children unless the parents have passed away. It also requires the father to sign for paternity at registration. Eve’s mother is unavailable and her father is deceased. Eve’s grandparents are unable to financially support her and are unable to apply for a social grant to look after her. She has been placed in foster care. Eve is stateless. Problem: Section 9 of the BDRA does not allow guardians to register children unless both biological parents are dead. Regulation 12 requires the father to sign for paternity in order to be recorded as the father of the child and to pass nationality to his child. Solution: The BDRA should be amended to allow legal guardians to register children where the parents are alive, but unavailable. The regulations should be amended to allow paternity to be recognised even after the father’s death, in order to allow them to pass nationality to their children. The Committee has urged States Parties to abide by Article 7 obligations to ensure that all children within the territory have the right to be registered at birth and acquire a nationality, irrespective of the child’s or his or her parents’ or legal guardians’ sex, race, religion or ethnicity, social origin or status.7 Sarah was born at home (i.e. not in a hospital) to a foreign mother. Her mother passed away before her birth was registered and Sarah was left undocumented. Sarah was placed in a children’s home, but the social workers cannot register her birth because there was no South African citizen to witness her birth. Sarah’s mother was assisted in birth by a non-South African woman. Sarah does not have any provable link to the country of her mother’s birth. She might be able to access South African citizenship through the Citizenship Act which allows South African citizenship for children born stateless in South Africa. However, this is not possible without birth registration. She is therefore stateless. Sarah cannot go to school because of her lack of legal status. Once she turns 18, she will no longer be considered a child and will be at risk of arrest, detention and deportation to a country she has no citizenship in. Sarah recently had a child of her own and cannot register her child because she is undocumented and stateless. Problem: Regulations 3, 4 and 5 require children born at home to produce an affidavit form a South African citizen who witnessed their births in order to get a birth certificate. Section 2(2) of the SA Citizenship Act requires birth registration in order to recognise otherwise stateless children as citizens in South Africa. Solution: The BDRA should be amended to allow foreign witnesses to produce affidavits regarding home births. It should also make provision for children who were born at home with no witness other than their mothers. The SA Citizenship Act should be amended to remove the requirement for birth registration in order to allow stateless children to apply for citizenship. The recommendations of the Committee on the birth registration (see above) should be adhered to. “I cannot register my child because I am undocumented and stateless“