f. Discrimination in birth registration may occur on the basis of refugee or migration status, lack of nationality, on grounds of gender, ethnicity, race or religion, or for reasons such as being internally displaced or born out of wedlock. For example, in some countries: • Laws or policies do not allow refugees and/or stateless persons’ access to civil registration, including birth registration. • Birth registration procedures and documents provided to refugees or stateless persons may differ from official birth certificates provided to nationals, and may not contain the full information recommended to be included in the official birth certificate (see Annex 1). In some countries, refugees are provided with only a letter or notice of birth, not an official birth certificate, and the birth is not registered in the national vital statistics database. These practices risk stigmatizing refugees and make it more difficult for refugees to have their child’s birth certificate recognized as legitimate, as well as undermining the completeness of the national birth registry. • Discriminatory and stigmatizing information is included on a birth certificate, for example that the parents are refugees, or the child is born out of wedlock or not in a health facility. • Regulations and practices that discriminate on grounds of gender – for instance, that unmarried or single mothers cannot register the births of their children – can prevent registration and may lead to statelessness. In addition to being inherently discriminatory, requirements to produce a marriage certificate to register children’s births disproportionally impact forcibly displaced and stateless persons, who often face more difficulties to produce a marriage certificate, and higher rates of family separation. 18 • In some countries, where nationality derives from birth in the territory of the country (jus soli), authorities may deliberately not provide birth registration to restrict access to nationality for children born to foreign or stateless persons. Authorities may also deny birth registration in some settings where there are provisions to provide nationality to children born in the territory who would otherwise be stateless, or children of unknown parentage, to avoid operationalizing these safeguards against statelessness. Even in countries where nationality is attributed by descent (jus sanguinis) only, authorities and host communities may mistakenly believe that registering a birth of the child automatically grants nationality of the country of residence. This misconception has, at times, led to civil registrars erroneously refusing to register the births of refugees, stateless persons or other non-nationals.18 g. Risks of penalties. In some settings, forcibly displaced and/or stateless persons fear approaching the birth registration authorities, due to risks of persecution, immigration penalties and/or refoulement. This is particularly the case where firewalls and data protection laws do not adequately protect information shared with birth registration authorities from being used for other purposes. h. Lack of awareness. Forcibly displaced or stateless persons may lack information on birth registration procedures or an understanding of its importance. They often realize the importance of birth registration only when they enroll their children in school or try to access other government services. Civil registrars may also be unaware of procedures for those lacking requisite documents. For more details, see the UNHCR birth registration field survey. UNDESA, “Guidelines on the legislative framework for civil registration,” (New York, United Nations, 2023), para. 41. Birth registration of forcibly displaced and stateless persons 11