 The Registrar General must draft and make public simplified and harmonized regulations that outline clear, accessible and affordable procedures for birth registration, renunciation of foreign citizenship and/or confirmation of Zimbabwean citizenship in respect of all people born in Zimbabwe, including former migrant workers and their families.  Registry offices must issue birth certificates to stateless school children on the strength of a letter from a school head or traditional leader or an affidavit from a parent or legal guardian regardless of the migration status of their parents or the non-existence of the parents’ death certificate to ensure universal registration.  Remove the Registrar General’s unfettered powers to grant birth registration in situations where birth or death occurred after 20 June 1986.  All stateless descendants of migrant workers from Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia must be granted citizenship in line with the 2013 Constitution which allows dual citizenship and descendants of migrant workers born in Zimbabwe, and all descendants of victims of Gukurahundi at risk of being stateless must be granted birth certificates and IDs without the requirement to furnish death certificates of their deceased parents.  Amend the Births and Deaths Registration Act to remove the unfettered discretion by the Registrar General to reject late registration of births. The Minister must draft and make public clear, accessible and simplified regulations on the registration of births and deaths.  Initiate legislation for the establishment of the Citizenship and Immigration Board which shall have oversight over conferment of nationality and simplify and decentralize citizenship determination processes in line with section 41 of the 2013 Constitution and principles of devolution.  Take adequate steps to eliminate all administrative barriers to acquiring birth certificates, death certificates and citizenship certificates for all persons deprived of their nationality or at risk of being stateless.  Take adequate measures to prevent future arbitrary restrictions and deprivation of the right to nationality based on the parents’ ancestry or migration status, and eliminate onerous requirements that restrict the registration of the birth of their children and the acquisition of identity documents.  Allow fathers to obtain birth certificates for their children without the administrative requirement to produce non-existent identity documents of undocumented mothers, in line with section 11 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act.  Allow grandmothers and other recognized legal guardians to obtain birth certificates for their grandchildren whose parents are either deceased or unavailable to register births of their children. TO THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE  In consultation with civil society organizations, amend the Citizenship of Zimbabwe Act and the Births and Deaths Registration Act to, among other key issues, recognize dual citizenship, late registration of birth and the right to Zimbabwean nationality for all those migrants from SADC states born in Zimbabwe if one of the parents is a Zimbabwean citizen or a citizen of a SADC state, in line with the 2013 Constitution and relevant international norms.  Ratify the UN 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families as a demonstration of their commitment to reduce and prevent statelessness and protect migrant workers’ rights in Zimbabwe.  Ratify the African Union Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on Specific Aspects of the Right to a Nationality and Eradication of Statelessness in Africa as soon as it is adopted in 2021. TO THE MINISTRY OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION  Allow children without birth certificates and IDs to sit public examinations on the strength of affidavits from school heads, parents or legal guardian.  Document all children without birth certificates and submit the information to provincial and district registries to facilitate universal registration of all children in primary and secondary schools. WE ARE LIKE “STRAY ANIMALS” THOUSANDS LIVING ON THE MARGINS DUE TO STATELESSNESS IN ZIMBABWE Amnesty International 36