18. The Registration of Births and Deaths Act10 stipulates that every person is enforced and obliged to register a birth at the earliest time possible. Gaps in law, policy and practice which undermine every child’s right to acquire a nationality 19. Despite this strong legal framework, there remain some crucial gaps, which undermine every child’s right to acquire a nationality in Lesotho. The right of foundlings or children of unknown parents to acquire and retain Lesotho citizenship 20. There are no provisions for granting citizenship to foundlings in either the Constitution or the Citizenship Order and as a consequence children found in Lesotho and who appear to have been born in Lesotho are not afforded the right to a nationality at birth. This is a denial of every child’s right to acquire a nationality and undermines Lesotho’s international and domestic obligations. Difficulty in accessing birth registration and/or documentation for children born in Lesotho 21. Even though birth registration is provided for and enforced under the law, the most recent UNICEF birth registration data for Lesotho estimated the 2005 - 2012 birth registration rate to be only 45.1%. In particular, births in rural areas are less likely to be registered. Further, the penalties levied for late registration of birth is a major disincentive for parents. Furthermore, in the absence of parents, those registering births often do not know which documents to produce to facilitate birth registration. The passing on of citizenship for only one generation born outside of the country 22. According to Article 39 of the Constitution of Lesotho, a Basotho citizen born abroad cannot pass on their nationality to their children who are also born abroad, a situation which could lead to statelessness. Article 39 – Persons born outside of Lesotho after the coming into operation of the Constitution: “A person born outside Lesotho after the coming into operation of this Constitution shall become a citizen of Lesotho at the date of his birth, if at that date either of his parents is citizen of Lesotho otherwise than by descent.” Challenges related to acquisition of citizenship of stateless children 23. The Citizenship Order, section 10 (1)(a) and (b) makes provision for a stateless person to apply for Sotho Citizenship at the age of 18 but requires that the stateless person resided lawfully in Lesotho prior to his application as a condition. This is often an impossible requirement, as stateless persons often do not have any enabling documents and are not in a position to acquire legal status in any country in the absence of a special consideration such as a statelessness determination mechanism (procedure) to document such person. Furthermore, this provision means that children who are stateless will not have access to citizenship until 10 The Registration of Births and Deaths Act 22 of 1973