Introduction ACCESS TO BIRTH REGISTRATION AND RIGHTS Children and adults have inherent rights conferred to them as children and human beings under the jurisdiction of a State, regardless of evidence of their legal identity, such as a birth certificate. As such, having a legal identity and access to birth certificates is a human and child’s right, but should not be a prerequisite for enjoying other rights. All children have the right from birth to a name and a nationality and shall be registered immediately after birth.2 Society first acknowledges a child’s existence and identity through birth registration. The right to be recognized as a person before the law, often referred to as the right to a legal identity, is a critical step in ensuring lifelong protection and is a gateway to many other rights. A birth certificate is proof of that legal identity and is essential for claiming age-specific rights and accessing services. It is also an important tool to prevent statelessness. This document provides an overview for UNHCR and partners, including government authorities, on birth registration for forcibly displaced and stateless persons3. It covers the basics of birth registration, its importance, and actions UNHCR and partners, particularly authorities, can take to ensure their access to birth registration. What is birth registration? Birth registration is the continuous, permanent, and universal recording, within the civil registration, of the occurrence and characteristics of the birth in accordance with the national legal requirements of a country’.4 In summary, it is the official registration of a child’s birth through the State’s Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Systems, and the issuance of a birth certificate. 2 3 4 A child has the right under international law to be registered at birth, and it is the obligation of the State to register all births in their jurisdictions without discrimination or distinction of any kind, as outlined in articles 7 and 8 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), articles 16 and 24 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and article 16.2 of the Convention on Elimination of Forms of Discrimination Against Women. The birth registration process has a number of steps, including birth notification, registering the birth in the birth registry and issuing the birth certificate. Issuance of birth certificates is important for all children, particularly for asylumseekers and refugees, who face greater difficulties in accessing national civil registries due to movements between countries. United Nations General Assembly [UNGA], “Convention on the Rights of the Child”, resolution 44/25 (adopted 20 November 1989), art. 7(1). https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child. In the document, the term ‘forcibly displaced and stateless persons’ is used to cover all those populations that UNHCR works with and for, including asylum-seekers, refugees and others in need of international protection, internally displaced persons (IDPs), stateless persons and individuals at risk of statelessness. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs [UNDESA], “Principles and recommendations for a vital statistics system: Revision 3”, Statistical Papers, Series M, No. 19/Rev.3 (New York, United Nations, 2019). https://unstats.un.org/unsd/ demographic/standmeth/principles/M19Rev3en.pdf. Birth registration of forcibly displaced and stateless persons 3