G.T.B. v. SPAIN JUDGMENT
also Christine Goodwin, cited above, § 72). Nonetheless, certain factors have
been considered relevant for the assessment of the content of those positive
obligations on States. Some of them relate to the applicant. They concern the
importance of the interest at stake and whether “fundamental values” or
“essential aspects” of private life are in issue (see Hämäläinen, cited above,
§ 66; and X and Y v. the Netherlands, 26 March 1985, § 27, Series A
no. 91), or the impact on an applicant of a discordance between the social
reality and the law, the coherence of the administrative and legal practices
within the domestic system being regarded as an important factor in the
assessment carried out under Article 8 (see Hämäläinen, § 66; and
Christine Goodwin, §§ 77-78, both cited above). Other factors relate to the
impact of the alleged positive obligation at stake on the State concerned. The
question here is whether the alleged obligation is narrow and precise or broad
and indeterminate (see Hämäläinen, cited above, § 66), or about the extent of
any burden the obligation would impose on the State (ibid., § 66). In choosing
how to comply with their positive obligations, States enjoy a broad margin of
appreciation (see Lozovyye v. Russia, cited above, § 36). Where a particularly
important facet of an individual’s existence or identity is at stake, the margin
allowed to the State will be restricted (see, for example, X and Y
v. the Netherlands, cited above, §§ 24 and 27, and Christine Goodwin,
cited above, § 90).
116. In this respect, the Court notes that, as pointed out by the Office of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (see paragraph 80
above), birth registration involves not only the declaration of the occurrence
of the birth to civil registrars and the official recording of the birth by civil
registrars, but also the effective issuing of a birth certificate, the document
which constitutes evidence of the State’s legal recognition of the child.
117. According to well-established case-law, in all decisions concerning
children their best interests are of paramount importance (see Vavřička and
Others v. the Czech Republic [GC], nos. 47621/13 and 5 others, § 287, 8 April
2021; see also Neulinger and Shuruk v. Switzerland [GC], no. 41615/07, § 96,
ECHR 2010; and X v. Latvia [GC], no. 27853/09, § 96, ECHR 2013). This
reflects the broad consensus on this matter, expressed notably in Article 3 of
the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (see paragraph 81 above).
(b) Application of the above principles to the present case
118. The Court would start by noting that, as evidenced in its case-law
cited above, obstacles in obtaining birth registration and lack of access to
identity documents resulting from those obstacles can have a serious impact
on a persons’ sense of identity as an individual human being. In addition, the
lack of birth registration and valid identity documents can cause significant
problems in a person’s daily life, in particular at the administrative level (see
M. v. Switzerland, no. 41199/06, § 57, 26 April 2011; see also, mutatis
mutandis, Smirnova v. Russia, nos. 46133/99 and 48183/99, § 96, ECHR
31
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