cooperation to combat childhood statelessness building on other initiatives.14 Engagement by the CEDAW Committee is critical to elevating the issue and to ensuring a rights-based approach to the avoidance and eradication of statelessness – one focused on the positive realisation of the right of every child to acquire and preserve their nationality irrespective of the gender of their parents. Another avenue that could provide remedies in the context of establishing family relations when grave past abuses have occurred, is exploring transitional justice through the work of the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence (UN SR on transitional justice), who has provided a comprehensive report on the design and implementation of apologies (e.g. motivation, acknowledgement and truth, timing, preparation the apology, after the apology: follow through, nonrecurrence and reconciliation).15 This is particularly relevant in cases where children have been systemically been removed from their families due to the status of their mothers including in countries such as Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and Switzerland. Transitional justice has been applied in the context of Ireland.16 3. Leveraging birth and marriage registration to prevent child marriage Having a requirement of proof of age prior to celebrating and/or registering a marriage, reinforces the importance of a lifecycle approach to civil registration.17 Where the couple is required to provide legal proof of age, it is the civil registration office’s responsibility to verify age using existing records. When individual events are handled separately, the registration system fails to benefit from its very strength. The State should be able to verify the age of the child through its own records. The 1979 CEDAW notes in Art. 16(2) that “the betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect, and all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage and to make the registration of marriages in an official registry compulsory.” While the 1989 CRC does not explicitly mention child marriage, harmful practices are prohibited (Arts. 19 and 24(3)). In 2019, the CEDAW and CRC Committees issued a Joint General Comment on harmful practices, noting:18 42. Contrary to their obligations under both Conventions, many States parties maintain legal provisions that justify, allow or lead to harmful practices, such as legislation that allows for child marriage …. 43. In States parties with plural legal systems, even where laws explicitly prohibit harmful practices, prohibition may not be enforced effectively because the existence of customary, traditional or religious laws may actually support those practices. To this end, the two Committees have recommended to States: (g) That a legal requirement of marriage registration is established and effective implementation is provided through awareness-raising, education and the existence of adequate infrastructure to make registration accessible to all persons within their jurisdiction; (h) That a national system of compulsory, accessible and free birth registration is established in order to effectively prevent harmful practices, including child marriage; The meeting with the CEDAW Committee will be used to present desk research undertaken by UNICEF WCARO and CHIP in 11 countries in West and Central Africa to provide an exploratory overview of the potential opportunities that birth and marriage registration provide, if they operate, as intended. Specifically, it outlines the possibilities of how proof of age through birth certification may be used as a precondition for the marriage to be celebrated and/or registered. 14 For example, see the #IBelong campaign to End Statelessness by 2024, spearheaded by UNHCR (https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/) and the related the Coalition on Every Child’s Right to a Nationality (https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/unicef-unhcr-coalition-child-right-nationality/); and the work of Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (www.institutesi.org). 15 UNGA (2019). Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence. Retrieved from: https://undocs.org/en/A/74/147. 16 For example, see Gallen, J (2022) Institutions and Ireland: Mother and Baby Homes and Transitional Justice, Irish University Review https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/iur.2022.0545 17 See webinar on this topic https://www.child-identity.org/webinar-leveraging-birth-and-marriage-registration-to-prevent-child-marriage-in-11countries-in-west-and-central-africa/ 18 No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2019) on harmful practices (CEDAW/C/GC/31/Rev.1–CRC/C/GC/18/Rev.1)