© UNHCR/Charity Nzomo Barke distributing birth certificates issued by authorities to parents from Kilifi county in Kenya. The NGO, HAKI Centre, works with the county governments to mobilize communities and distribute birth certificates to grassroot areas and areas where accessing government offices is a challenge, in order to support efforts to eradicate statelessness in Kenya. • Addressing statelessness. Birth registration helps prevent statelessness by establishing a legal record of where a person was born and who their parents are. These key facts are the foundation for acquiring a nationality at birth under the principles of nationality by descent (jus sanguinis) and/or by place of birth (jus soli) in national law. Without birth registration, including issuance of a birth certificate, children and even adults – especially those who have been forcibly displaced – may have problems proving their links to a State. This can make it difficult for them to have their nationality established and obtain proof of nationality, therefore putting them at risk of statelessness. There are also dedicated legal safeguards against statelessness at birth that are generally impossible to implement in practice in the absence of birth registration. For persons born stateless in contexts where no legal safeguards exist to prevent 13 statelessness at birth, birth registration— including the issuance of a birth certificate— remains important to ensure their protection and enjoyment of certain rights. Moreover, a birth certificate is generally a prerequisite for resolving statelessness later in life, including through acquiring a nationality, for example, through naturalization. • Access to services for children. Birth registration is often requested and thus facilitates children’s access to services such as health care, education and social security. However, access to services to which children have a right should never be dependent on birth registration or children holding a birth certificate.13 Nonetheless, some countries still require birth registration for school enrolment or for taking national exams, and/or for accessing health or social services. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Best practices and specific measures to ensure access to birth registration, particularly for those at most risk: Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights”, Human Rights Council, thirty-ninth session, A/HRC/39/30 (10 August 2018), para. 43. https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/ g18/246/55/pdf/g1824655.pdf. Birth registration of forcibly displaced and stateless persons 7