Access to civil documentation In Honduras, the ‘Smart Opening Plan’ was adopted to resume the registration of vital events. It sets out a number of criteria for the reopening of offices. Home visits were also scheduled for those who could not go to an office. ■ A number of countries used the pandemic as an opportunity to digitize civil registration services: ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Costa Rica developed a platform which made it possible for people to obtain birth, death and marriage certificates online. In Panama, a new online platform ‘Tribunal Contigo’ was rolled out for people to access civil registration services digitally to mitigate the suspension of in-person services. In Kazakhstan, birth registration and applications for other civil registration and documentation may now be submitted online and certificates can be picked up at the civil registry office. Several extensions were given for all residents whose documents expired during lockdown to renew them while not incurring a penalty. Civil registration deadlines were relaxed or suspended for the duration of the pandemic and late birth registration fees lifted in some countries: ■ ■ ■ In Jordan, the Government passed Defense order No. 5 suspending deadlines for birth registration. This allowed for the late birth registration of children whose births could not be registered during the lockdown. Late birth registration fees were also waived. In Morocco, the 30-day administrative registration deadline to register births was suspended for the duration of the pandemic. In Lebanon, Parliament suspended the oneyear birth registration deadline from 18 October 2019 until 31 December 2020, which was further extended until 31 March 2021. Accordingly, births that passed the one-year mark in this period could still be registered administratively. In South Africa, although the Department of Home Affairs suspended birth registration at the beginning of the lockdown, children born in this period do not have to undergo the late birth registration procedure which involves more stringent requirements, including higher costs. In the Kyrgyz Republic, civil registry offices were closed in some locations during the state of emergency; no fines were applied for late birth registration or overdue renewal of residency documents for foreign citizens and stateless persons affected by these closures. Bogota, Colombia: Baby Enmanuel will benefit from a recent measure allowing babies born in Colombia to Venezuelan parents to obtain Colombian nationality. © UNHCR/Daniel Dreifuss 9 THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON STATELESS POPULATIONS