CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE MEMBER STATES OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY 2020 Birth registration In principle, recognition of nationality should start immediately after birth, with registration of the birth itself.190 Birth registration establishes in legal terms the place of birth and parental affiliation, which in turn serves as documentary proof underpinning acquisition of the parents’ nationality (jus sanguinis), or the nationality of the state where the child is born (jus soli). Birth registration (while not itself conferring citizenship) is usually fundamental to the recognition of nationality, and thus of many other rights: lack of birth certificates can prevent citizens from registering to vote, putting their children in school or entering them for public exams, accessing health care, or obtaining identity cards, passports, and other important documents. Angola, Mozambique, Madagascar, and DRC follow the standard civil law rule that civil status events – births, marriages, divorces, adoptions, deaths – are only legally valid if they are recorded in the civil register. In Mozambique, both the constitution and the nationality law explicitly provide that the civil register is proof of all facts relating to nationality.191 In the Commonwealth states, birth registration is not usually a legal prerequisite for citizenship to be recognised, even though it may be so in practice. However, there are exceptions. For example, legal protections against statelessness based on birth in South Africa depend on birth registration (which is not required for citizenship acquired from a parent).192 There is a similar variation in relation to the status of a birth certificate as proof of citizenship. In both Angola and Mozambique nationality of origin is proved by a birth certificate unless there is mention to the contrary.193 In the Commonwealth states, by contrast, a birth certificate is not usually proof of citizenship (though it is commonly stated to be prima facie evidence of the particulars it sets out194), but again there are exceptions. According to the Botswana Children’s Act, a birth certificate issued under the Births and Deaths Registration Act, shall be the proof of the citizenship of the child.195 Zambia’s 2016 Citizenship Act provides that “A person who is a citizen by birth shall be registered at birth in accordance with the Births and Deaths Registration Act”, and issued a national registration card upon majority, the implication being that birth registration will serve as proof of citizenship (although the Births and Deaths Registration Act does not contain a similar provision).196 Given the importance of birth registration for recognition of citizenship, every child should have the right to registration of birth, free of charge, in accordance with the requirements of the Convention on the Rights of 190 “The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.” Convention in the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989, Art. 7(1). The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child repeats this provision in its Article 6(2). 191 Mozambique Constitution 2004 art. 34; Lei de 20 de Junho de 1975 (alterada pela Lei no.2.82 de 06 de Abril & pela Lei No. 16/87 de 21 de Dezembro), art. 19. 192 South African Citizenship Act No.88 of 1995 (as amended), sec. 2, comparing subsections (1), (2) and (3). 193 Angola : Lei No.2/2016 de 15 de Abril, art. 26 ; Mozambique Decreto 3/75 da lei da nacionalidade, alterado pelo Decreto No. 5/88, art. 4(1). 194 For example, in Lesotho, section 13 of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act No.22 of 1973, provides in standard wording that “a copy of an entry in any register certified under the hand of the registrar to be a correct copy shall be prima facie evidence in all courts of the dates and facts therein stated”. 195 Botswana Children’s Act No.8 of 2009, sec. 12(3). 196 Citizenship of Zambia Act 2016, sec. 15. UNHCR / December, 2020 59