Good practices in access to universal birth registration for the prevention of childhood statelessness Accessibility: Birth registration and birth certificates should be accessible to all children born on the territory and to children of nationals born outside their parents’ country of nationality. Fees that inhibit registration should be reviewed. Late registration should also be easily accessible, through a simple process, with no penalties that may inhibit birth registration. It is also good practice to have an explicit prohibition on the birth registration authorities sharing information with immigration enforcement officials, as in Switzerland.119 If data is shared between birth registrars and immigration enforcement authorities, parents who do not have the required documents or permission to reside in the territory may avoid registering their child’s birth if they fear it would result in them being arrested, detained or removed from the country. Further, States should make robust efforts to remove any existing barriers to registration and facilitate access to birth registration, for example, for people who live far from a registry office or who lack fluency in a relevant language or are illiterate. Complicated procedures and long delays can lead to some parents, especially those who are marginalized in other ways, becoming disillusioned and either not applying at all or disengaging with the process before completion. Non-discrimination: Officials should register births and confirm nationality or register children as nationals without discriminating on any basis, such as relating to parents’ marital status, immigration status, ethnicity, gender or other status. Discrimination can prevent birth registration if, for example, women do not have equal rights to register a child’s birth, including if they are unmarried or if the father is absent or unknown (e.g., in cases of rape, where the mother conceives through an unknown sperm donor, or where she is a sex worker). Although many OSCE participating States have amended nationality laws that directly discriminated against women, gaps remain, especially for children of migrant women who are nationals of countries that continue to discriminate against women. Discrimination based on the parents’ gender or sexual orientation, (e.g., refusal to record two parents of the same sex on the birth registry or birth certificate) can also prevent birth registration and leave children stateless. A good practice adopted in many OSCE participating States is to have no requirement for the parents to be lawfully present in the territory in order to register a child’s birth; and in some OSCE participating States, officials can list both same-sex parents on birth records and certificates.120 Procedural safeguards: States should adopt procedural safeguards to ensure universal birth registration and facilitate children’s acquisition of nationality, including, for example, 119 Ehen und eingetragene Partnerschaften ausländischer Staatsangehöriger: Nachweis des rechtmässigen Aufenthaltes und Meldung an die Ausländerbehörden, (Marriages and registered partnerships of foreign nationals: Proof of legal residence and notification to the immigration authorities), Swiss Confederation/ Federal Office of Justice, Nr. 10.11.01.02, adopted 1 January 2011, p. 4, [in German]. 120 ENS, Birth registration and the prevention of statelessness in Europe, p. 12. 48