3.3.7 Organize meetings once a year between UNHCR # of meetings held and ICGLR Executive Secretariat to evaluate implementation of the action plan of ICGLR on the eradication of statelessness. Commission in charge Meeting reports of humanitarian and social issues of the ICGLR, ICGLR Executive Secretariat, UNHCR and Civil Society Organisations, Continued on an annual basis Strategic objective 4: Guarantee access to proof of legal identity, including birth certificates and nationality documentation Lack of proof of legal identity, including birth certificates and nationality documentation, significantly raises the risk of statelessness in the Great Lakes region. Those most affected include descendants of pre-independence and other long-term migrants, border-dwelling and nomadic populations, minority groups, children of refugees and migrants including those in an irregular situation, and children separated from their parents, or whose parents are unknown. Civil registration is crucial to preventing statelessness because it creates a legal record of a person’s family relationships. Birth registration and certification is particularly important because it documents where a person is born and who the parents are – usually the most important information needed to establish which country’s nationality any person is entitled to. Rates of birth registration in countries of the Great Lakes region are generally low. Even if all births are registered, however, individuals with an entitlement to nationality under the law can be exposed to statelessness or a risk of statelessness if in practice they cannot acquire nationality documents, including nationality certificates, national identity cards or passports. Without such documentation they may be unable to access basic rights. It is therefore of utmost importance that birth registration is timely, universal and free, and that those with an entitlement to nationality are able to acquire the documents normally issued as evidence of nationality. Improving access to birth registration, certification and nationality documentation protects the best interests of the child and helps to ensure access to basic rights, including rights to education and healthcare. Universal birth registration is an obligation of States under international and African human rights instruments. 1 Actions 7 and 8 of the Global Action Plan to End Statelessness call on States to ensure birth registration and access to nationality documentation, while Target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals requires all States by 2030, to provide legal identity for all, including birth registration. For the Great Lakes Region, paragraph 27 of the 1 These standards include: Article 6 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Article 24(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; Article 29 of the Convention on Protection of Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families; Art 18 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; Article 6 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; and Article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as interpreted by their respective treaty bodies. 10