Magister Legum - LLM / International law explains the significance of the right to a birth certificate,1 birth registration and what it means to be a national of a specific state.2 International law also explains how important the right to birth registration is and how it has historically been connected to the right to nationality.3 Legal scholars have over the years provided insights as to how international and national law can best address the right to birth registration.4 In South Africa the DHA does not issue birth certificates to children born to undocumented non-South Africans or documented non-South Africans with both parents holders of foreign documentation with the exception of non-South Africans with permanent residential permit.

This study focuses on children's right to birth registration in Zimbabwe. The research focuses on a children's rights based approach to birth registration and interrogates the government's adherence to article 6(2) of the African Children's Charter. Key recommendations are drawn from best practices in other jurisdictions and international human rights standards. / Mini Dissertation (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa))--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Centre for Human Rights / LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa) / Unrestricted

Magister Legum - LLM / Stateless children and those at risk of becoming stateless has been an ongoing issue both on a domestic level as well as internationally. In many African countries children face discriminatory and arbitrary nationality laws as a result of which they are not registered and granted citizenship in their country of birth or where they are found or undocumented. Thus, children continue to be stateless and will not be able to register their own children once they become parents. As a result, this creates an issue of transgenerational statelessness which will continue indefinitely and as such, requires attention and action both on a domestic and international level as a matter of urgency. While laws have been enacted in the aim to protect stateless children or children at risk of becoming stateless, the lack of guidelines in the implementation thereof creates a difficulty for children to acquire a nationality. States in this regard have the responsibility to create mechanisms to facilitate the implementation of laws especially when dealing with vulnerable groups such as stateless children.

Universal full coverage of birth registration by 2030 is one of the sustainable development targets which itself is of great significance for the accomplishment of many development goals such as poverty eradication, inclusion, as well as improvement of several health factors. Despite the importance of this topic, not much academic attention has been paid to study the problem of birth under-registration from the perspective of development studies. This research studies the issue of birth under-registration through a case study of Iran. The four main questions of this research are the quantitative significance of the problem, the main causes of birth under-registration, the most affected social groups, and the main problematic domain of action, in the context of Iran. By utilizing an abductive content analysis method, this research aims to understand the problem, rather than proposing policy recommendations. This desk study uses secondary sources and almost all of the sources are of qualitative nature. It is not based on any pre-defined theory and therefore does not aim to generalize nor theorize the findings. It, however, is based on available theories for developing the analytical framework. The adopted analytical framework is Bottleneck analysis which is a method designed by UNICEF specifically for the purpose of birth registration programming and policy evaluation. Birth under-registration in Iran - compared to other countries in the region - turned out to be very low. The findings provide information on many good practices regarding birth registration programming and also about several areas in need of improvement in Iran. By applying the analytical framework to the findings, identified disincentives have been categorized in three domains of supply, demand, and enabling environment, and the significance of disincentives in each domain has been assessed. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded that almost all of the main causes of birth registration are of legal nature, especially patriarchal nationality laws. Also, it was found that the main risk groups were children of illegal immigrants, non-nationals, and unregistered parents, and the main problematic domain is found to be the domain of supply.

A birth certificate provides a child with a legal identity, nationality, is a vital action towards child protection and can help a child access social welfare. Worldwide, almost 230 million children under the age of five have not been registered. Other than the vast negative impacts on the child it creates a blind spot in population statistics. Indonesia is one of the countries where the problem is widespread - only 57 percent of the children under the age of five have a birth certificate. In December 2013 a law was ratified in Indonesia, imposing changes in the birth registration process. This paper seeks to explore how the target group of that law, i.e. parents, perceive their possibility to comply with the policy, that is, to obtain a birth certificate for their children.  Based on a field study in Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia, conducting in-depth interviews with 58 parents as well as stakeholders such as policy implementers and NGOs, this thesis will propose that there is a variance in how the policy has been implemented in different regencies. The results indicate that the variance in the implementation, as well as the policy setting prior implementation in each regency, affects the parents’ perceived possibility to comply. In one of the studied regencies the implementation of the policy has affected the parents’ possibility to comply in a critically negative way, increasing the hindrances to obtain a birth certificate. Further, the regency politicians have created forced incentives to comply by making birth certificate mandatory to register for school, creating a vast risk of removing childrens’ access to education.

<p>Birth registration is a fundamental key in ensuring several essential rights of the child; including the right to a name and a nationality, the right to education and health care, and protection from abuse and exploitation among others. The United Nation’s Convention on the Right of the Child establishes that the child shall be registered immediately after birth and have the right to a name and a nationality. A total of 22 % of the Dominican children under the age of five are lacking an official proof of their existence within the Dominican society and in the world. A Minor Field study was conducted during a period of two months in 2009 with the aim of clarifying what obstacles to birth registration exist in the South-western part of the Dominican Republic. This clarification will contribute to a wider understanding of the causes to non-registration and the birth registration process in the country. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with parents to unregistered children, civil registry officials and other relevant actors in the Dominican society. The findings of the study present a wide range of obstacles to birth registration and it is clear that the reasons behind non-registration in this region are numerous, complex and often inter-related. According to most parents, officials and other informants the main obstacle to birth registration was found to be the parents’ lack of a Dominican identification card, a <em>cédula</em>. The lack of awareness about the importance of being registered and neglect by the parents were two other significant barriers to birth registration. The Minor Field Study was conducted with the support of the child rights organisation Plan International - República Dominicana.</p> / <p>Registro de nacimiento es una de las claves más importantes para asegurar los derechos fundamentales del niño; derecho a un nombre y una nacionalidad, derecho a la educación, derecho a servicio de salud, protección contra el abuso y la explotación entre otras cosas. La Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño establece que el niño será inscripto inmediatamente después de su nacimiento y tendrá derecho a un nombre y una nacionalidad. Un total de 22 % de los niños Dominicanos menores de cinco años de edad carece de una prueba oficial de su existencia dentro de la sociedad Dominicana y en el mundo. Un estudio de campo (Minor Field Study) fue realizado durante un período de dos meses en 2009 con el objetivo de aclarar cuáles son los obstáculos para el registro de nacimiento en la parte Sur-occidental de la República Dominicana. Esta aclaración contribuirá a una mayor comprensión de las causas de la no inscripción y el proceso de inscripción de nacimientos en el país. Entrevistas semi-estructuradas fueron realizadas con padres de niños sin registrar, oficiales del Estado civil y otros actores en la sociedad Dominicana. Los resultados de este estudio presentan varios obstáculos para la inscripción de nacimiento y es evidente que las razones de la no inscripción en esta región son numerosas, complejas e interrelacionadas. Según la mayoría de los padres, oficiales del Estado civil y otros informantes el principal obstáculo para el registro de nacimientos se encontró en la falta de cédula de los padres, un problema que muchas veces pasa de una generación a otra. La falta de conciencia sobre la importancia de estar registrado y la negligencia de los padres fueron otros dos obstáculos importantes para el registro de nacimientos. El estudio fue realizado con el apoyo de la organización non gubernamental Plan International- República Dominicana.</p>

Birth registration is a fundamental key in ensuring several essential rights of the child; including the right to a name and a nationality, the right to education and health care, and protection from abuse and exploitation among others. The United Nation’s Convention on the Right of the Child establishes that the child shall be registered immediately after birth and have the right to a name and a nationality. A total of 22 % of the Dominican children under the age of five are lacking an official proof of their existence within the Dominican society and in the world. A Minor Field study was conducted during a period of two months in 2009 with the aim of clarifying what obstacles to birth registration exist in the South-western part of the Dominican Republic. This clarification will contribute to a wider understanding of the causes to non-registration and the birth registration process in the country. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with parents to unregistered children, civil registry officials and other relevant actors in the Dominican society. The findings of the study present a wide range of obstacles to birth registration and it is clear that the reasons behind non-registration in this region are numerous, complex and often inter-related. According to most parents, officials and other informants the main obstacle to birth registration was found to be the parents’ lack of a Dominican identification card, a cédula. The lack of awareness about the importance of being registered and neglect by the parents were two other significant barriers to birth registration. The Minor Field Study was conducted with the support of the child rights organisation Plan International - República Dominicana. / Registro de nacimiento es una de las claves más importantes para asegurar los derechos fundamentales del niño; derecho a un nombre y una nacionalidad, derecho a la educación, derecho a servicio de salud, protección contra el abuso y la explotación entre otras cosas. La Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño establece que el niño será inscripto inmediatamente después de su nacimiento y tendrá derecho a un nombre y una nacionalidad. Un total de 22 % de los niños Dominicanos menores de cinco años de edad carece de una prueba oficial de su existencia dentro de la sociedad Dominicana y en el mundo. Un estudio de campo (Minor Field Study) fue realizado durante un período de dos meses en 2009 con el objetivo de aclarar cuáles son los obstáculos para el registro de nacimiento en la parte Sur-occidental de la República Dominicana. Esta aclaración contribuirá a una mayor comprensión de las causas de la no inscripción y el proceso de inscripción de nacimientos en el país. Entrevistas semi-estructuradas fueron realizadas con padres de niños sin registrar, oficiales del Estado civil y otros actores en la sociedad Dominicana. Los resultados de este estudio presentan varios obstáculos para la inscripción de nacimiento y es evidente que las razones de la no inscripción en esta región son numerosas, complejas e interrelacionadas. Según la mayoría de los padres, oficiales del Estado civil y otros informantes el principal obstáculo para el registro de nacimientos se encontró en la falta de cédula de los padres, un problema que muchas veces pasa de una generación a otra. La falta de conciencia sobre la importancia de estar registrado y la negligencia de los padres fueron otros dos obstáculos importantes para el registro de nacimientos. El estudio fue realizado con el apoyo de la organización non gubernamental Plan International- República Dominicana.

Les mutations profondes qui ont eu lieu dans notre manière de vivre : aspiration à l'égalité ; féminisme ; généralisation des familles recomposées ; acceptation sociale de l'homosexualité ; société de consommation ; dématérialisation et réappropriation de l'identité de l'individu sur les réseaux numériques... ont accompagné un changement radical de la manière de penser le rattachement familial de l'enfant. La mention du nom des parents dans l'acte de naissance ou la reconnaissance de l'enfant sont autant de supports dont le potentiel reste à explorer. Pour sa part, l'adoption est désormais fondée sur un lien plus abstrait de volonté qui exige de ne peut-être plus s'intéresser aux circonstances qui l'ont entourée. Enfin, en parallèle de la filiation génétique et de la filiation volontaire se dessine une nouvelle catégorie de filiation : le lien de filiation polygonéique, fondé sur le fait et mu par l'affection que l'on porte à l'enfant auquel il conviendra de donner un contenu juridique dans l'intérêt de l'enfant. Au delà de toutes ces formes d'appropriation générationnelle se pose dès lors la question de savoir où se trouvent les nouveaux droits de l'enfant. L'enfant a-t-il le droit à des parents en particulier ? Quels seront les critères d'égalité entre les enfants à l'avenir ? Quels bénéfices pourra-t-il tirer de ces évolutions ? Quelle doit-être la place de sa parole ? Plus que jamais il devient nécessaire de repenser un cadre juridique prévisible et stable pour le rattachement familial de l'enfant qui tienne compte du nouvel ordre public de la famille : les droits de l'enfant. / The profound changes in our way of life, (desire for equality, feminism, generalization of reconstituted families, social acceptance of homosexuality, consumer society, individuals’ identity becoming immaterial on digital networks), have gone along with a radical change in the way of thinking of how children are affiliated to a family. The mention of both parents’ names on a birth certificate, or the recognition of a child are two promising medium, yet to be examined. Concerning adoption, it is founded upon a more abstract link based on volition, meaning that it may no longer require to take into account the circumstances surrounding the adoption. Finally, parallel to genetic filiation and voluntary filiation, a new category of filiation is taking shape: polygoneic filiation (multi-parental filiation), which is based on facts and pushed by the affection felt for the child, and which will require a legal content in the best interests of the child. Beyond all these forms of belonging to a family, we can then wonder what will become new rights for children. Will a child have the right to have specific parents? What will be the criteria for equality between children in the future? What benefits will the child attain after these evolutions? What importance should be given to his/her views? More than ever, it will be crucial to re-examine an equable and predictable legal framework for family bonds which would take into consideration the new public order of the family: the rights of the child.