Section 6 of the Citizenship Order states that: “A person born outside Lesotho after the 3rd day of October, 1966 shall be a citizen of Lesotho with effect from the date of his birth if his father is a citizen of Lesotho at that date otherwise than by virtue of section 23(2) of the Lesotho Independence Order 1966.” Section 7 states that: “Any woman who after the 3rd day of October 1966 married or marries a citizen of Lesotho shall be entitled upon making application in such manner as may be prescribed and upon taking the oath of allegiance, to be registered as a citizen of Lesotho” 17. The Children’s Protection and Welfare Act, 17 in line with the CRC, protects the acquisition of nationality and birth registration for all children born in Lesotho, including orphaned and vulnerable children. It also protects against discrimination and stresses that a child’s best interest shall be the primary consideration in any matter concerning a child. Article 7 – Identity of child – a child has a right from birth, to a decent name and to acquire a nationality; Article 8 – Right to registration – A child has a right to be registered within three months of birth whether born alive or still born; Article 9 – Right of orphaned and abandoned and vulnerable children to register – (1) Orphan and vulnerable children have a right to registration. Difficulties in accessing birth registration 18. Lesotho is to be commended for its efforts towards strengthening the registration system. The co-submitting organisations are aware that a considerable level of awareness has also been created through nation-wide sensitisation workshops, distribution of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) material, radio programmes, and that these are all ongoing activities. 19. The Registration of Births and Deaths Act and the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act, from 1973 and 2011 respectively,18 stipulate that every child is registered a birth at within three months of birth. This is mandatory, by law. The duty of civil registration is placed on the Department of National Identity and Civil Registry.19 20. In 2014, Lesotho had extremely low levels of registered births, with a reported 43.3% (40.1% in rural areas).20 This is the most recent percentage available, which makes it 17 The Children’s Protection and Welfare Act No 7 of 2011. To read the Act, see: http://jafbase.fr/docAfrique/Lesotho/children%20act%20lesotho.pdf. 18 Registration of Births and Deaths Act (1973);; Children’s Protection and Welfare Act (2011); 19 https://data.unicef.org/resources/crvs/lesotho/ 20 Data collected by the World Bank (2014): https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.REG.BRTH.ZS?locations=LS 6