Annex 1: What information should be recorded on a birth certificate? The information contained in a birth certificate and the birth registry will generally differ. A birth certificate is a public document and should not include any unnecessary, inaccurate, discriminatory, or potentially stigmatizing information. It should contain only minimal information that is in the public domain, as follows:38 • The child’s given name and surname • The child’s sex • The child’s place and date of birth • The parent’s or parents’ names* This information is the key to establishing the child’s legal identity and is thus often referred to as the legal information captured by the birth registration process. Note: While the registrar should strive for complete legal and statistical information, an informant’s inability to provide information for any data field should not prevent registration.39 For instance, birth registration procedures should be allowed with single parents’ information or without complete information such as nationalities. Where information for any field is not known, the space should be left blank rather than recording “unknown”. Other information included in the birth registry The birth registry contains a range of other information that is used primarily for statistical 38 39 40 41 purposes. Information contained in the civil registry but not included in the birth certificate (and therefore not in the public domain) must only be provided by authorities in compliance with data protection laws and for legitimate purposes.40 This includes information that may be sensitive, such as parents’ nationality and marital status. Nationality of parent(s): The United Nations Guidelines on the Legislative Framework for Civil Registration, Vital Statistics and Identity Management Systems indicates that the nationality of the parent(s) can be included in the birth registry if available, but highlights that this is a low priority.41 Recording the nationality of parent(s) should be based only on proof of nationality. If proof of nationality is unavailable, this field should be left blank. Nationality of a child: Recording of a child’s nationality in birth registry is not recommended as civil registration authorities are not the competent authorities to determine the child’s nationality at birth. It is essential to foster strong cooperation between civil registration authorities and the competent authorities responsible for nationality matters. Only the competent authority for nationality matters can advise under which circumstances a child acquires the nationality of the country, according to the country’s nationality law. If a child’s nationality is unclear, civil registrars should refer the case to the authorities responsible for nationality matters, provided that doing so would not put the child or family at risk (e.g. of immigration penalties). Unfortunately, this cooperation is often lacking in many countries, leading to the incorrect determination of a child’s nationality and/or the incorrect recording of nationality or the lack thereof. UNDESA, “Guidelines on the legislative framework for civil registration,” (New York, United Nations, 2023), annex A. Ibid., para. 284. Ibid., para. 278. Ibid. Birth registration of forcibly displaced and stateless persons 25