Exploring the Interface Between Birth Registration and Citizenship Determination: A Scoping Study in Seven Countries in Southern Africa Maseru, Lesotho. Photo Credit: Homo Cosmicos / Shutterstock.com Relevance of Birth Registration Data for Citizenship Determination The facts captured in the birth registration record—place of occurrence and information about the parents—are critical to the determination of the child’s citizenship. In many countries, a person who acquired citizenship at birth by operation of law has traditionally claimed citizenship by providing a birth certificate at the time of application for a passport, or another document exclusively available to citizens, such as voter registration.24 A birth certificate may also be used by a person to acquire citizenship later in life by establishing facts that fulfill naturalization requirements. Because basic facts about a birth are needed to establish citizenship, UNHCR recommends that the citizenship of the parents should be captured during birth registration.25 However, there is no clear guidance for recording the citizenship of parents where the citizenship might not be easily verified, such as for refugees lacking adequate documentation, stateless persons, persons with undetermined citizenship and undocumented persons. Further, while citizenship of the parents should be recorded in the birth registration record, there is no clear guidance on inclusion of citizenship—of the parent or the child—on the birth certificate. Recent articles on birth registration and statelessness in Africa call for more clarity on stating and marking citizenship on birth certificates, including the citizenship status of the child and parent(s). 26, 27According to the United Nations Guidelines on the Legislative Framework for Civil Registration, Vital Statistics and Identity Management,28 and a UNHCR briefing note on birth registration,29 the citizenship of the child should not be recorded on the birth certificate as this could result in discrimination against non-citizens. 13