being refugees. Approaching your embassy, as an asylum seeker or refugee, would result in withdrawal of asylum/refugee status, as envisaged in the Refugee Amendment Act. Furthermore, some embassies do not issue birth certificates to children born abroad, and some states do not have diplomatic representation in South Africa. Those that do often are only able to provide limited services and, at best, are limited to offices in major metropolitan areas. There are a number of countries that only have diplomatic representation in Pretoria which presents serious logistical and financial issues for many individuals, particularly those with limited financial means. Therefore, this Draft Regulation would result in all foreign children effectively being without birth certificates in South Africa, which would have detrimental effects both on the children – and the South African state itself. The SCCT strongly recommends that the creation of the ‘confirmation of birth certificate’ is removed from the Draft Regulations, and that the Regulations ensure children born to foreigners in South Africa are issued with a birth certificate. 3. Draft Regulations 3, 4, 5 and 8: Requirement that parents produce valid identity documents and proof of legal stay Regulation 3 of the Draft Regulations9 requires South African and foreign parents to produce an identity document, and where one parent is a foreign national, a valid visa or asylum/refugee permit, as a prerequisite to birth registration in South Africa. Draft Regulations 4, 5 and 8 also require that both parents produce a valid visa, asylum seekers permit or refugee status in order to register the birth of the child. Furthermore, Draft Regulation 8(3)(c) requires that ‘the mother, or father, or both parents, require a valid passport and visa or permit to apply for a notice of birth’. It is submitted that a child’s right to a birth certificate should not be dependent on their parents’ status and that the current proposal would have severe negative consequences for foreign children. The current proposal is at odds with the recommendation of the Committee on the Rights of the Child concluding observations on the second periodic report of South Africa which recommended that all relevant legislation should be 9 Regulation 3 of the regulations to Birth and Deaths Registration Act set out which documents ‘must’ accompany an application to birth registration. They include a certified copy of the parent’s identity documents (regulation 3(3)(e)), a certified copy of a valid passport and visa or a permit where one parent is a non-South African citizen (regulation 3(3)(g)) or a certified copy of a death certificate where one parent is deceased. Regulation 3(5) states that an application that does not meet the requirements of 3(3) ‘shall not be accepted’. 5