Issues of concern related to birth registration and suggested questions for the state party’s review 28. As set out above, birth registration is key to accessing nationality in South Africa – in particular, for the children of non-South African / unknown parents. The Birth and Deaths Registration Act (BDRA) and its Regulations provide the legal framework for birth registration of all children born on the territory, whether to South African or foreign parents. While South Africa is yet to achieve universal birth registration due to practical constraints related to access etc., the BDRA and its Regulations contain barriers which make it impossible or extremely difficult for certain categories of person to access birth registration, thus undermining their legal identity including their right to acquire a nationality. Below, are the primary concerns in this regard: The requirement that the parents of the child have documentation 29. In order to register the birth of a child, the parents (or if they are deceased, other prescribed persons) must have legally valid documentation which confirms their legal status. I.e., South African citizens must have proof of their citizenship and foreign nationals must have a valid temporary or permanent resident visa.11 Undocumented parents and those who have overstayed their visas cannot register their children’s births. The combination of birth registration being required for children to benefit from the safeguard against statelessness and birth registration being impossible for parents without the requisite documentation or legal status means that both the registration of children and the safeguard against statelessness are contingent on the status of the parents. This restriction is contrary to Article 28(1)(a) of the South African Constitution and Article 7 CRC. It further undermines the protection against statelessness found in Section 2(2) of the Citizenship Act, perpetuates the cycle of lack of documentation and legal status (including nationality) and undermines the right to an identity of all children. 30. The requirement that document be legally valid is particularly harmful to children born to parents who have overstayed their visas. Such parents cannot register the birth of their child due to this restrictive provision, but also cannot leave South Africa with the child in order to regularise themselves in their country of origin (the Immigration Act requires the holder of an expired temporary visa to apply for a new visa to regulate stay in South Africa from country of origin), because according to regulation 6(12) of the Immigration Act, they cannot travel without an unabridged birth certificate. 31. In light of the discriminatory and disproportionate nature of provisions which only allow the registration of births of children whose parents have valid legal documentation, the Committee is urged to ask South Africa: On what basis does the legal framework require documentation of the parents in order to register the births of their children? Can it provide disaggregated data on the number of births that were not registered over the most recent 5 year period due to these restrictions? What steps is it taking to break the cycle of lack of documentation, legal status and legal identity that is perpetuated by this requirement? Restrictive time limit 32. Another concern is the stringent requirement under the BDRA that all births in the country must be registered within 30 days. While the late registration of births is possible,12 this subject to the payment of an administrative fee and compliance with prescribed requirements. Failure on either count can result in the birth not being registered. 11 12 Regulation 3(3) of the BDRA, 2014. The late registration of birth process was created to accommodate people who had not been registered under the previous Acts 6