1. Promoting access to Civil Status Documentation

2. International Instruments and Guidance
BIRTH REGISTRATION
UNHCR Executive Committee Conclusion 111 on Civil Registration (2013)
Global Action Plan to End Statelessness (2014)
UNHCR Global Strategic Priority 2
Art 7, Convention on the Rights of the Child; Art 24, Convention on Civil and Political Rights
MARRIAGE REGISTRATION
Art 16, Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
Women’s rights to family life and family unity, among others – and ability to register births of children
ExCom 11:
“birth registration is essential to the reduction and prevention of statelessness and associated protection risks”;
encourages UNHCR to “facilitate civil registration, in particular birth registration” in cooperation with States and other partners

3. Birth Registration: Protection Concerns
Statelessness:
Syrian children born abroad acquire nationality from their fathers.
The lack of a birth certificate does not make them stateless – but creates a risk of statelessness if they cannot prove their paternity.
Child Protection Risks at Various Stages of Life:
Infancy – Preventing and resolving family separation
Early Childhood – Access to health, education, other rights and services
Adolescence – Preventing child marriage, child labour, child recruitment
Lifelong – IF the failure to register a child’s birth does result in statelessness, this condition can be lifelong and passed on to subsequent generations

4. Marriage Registration
Enhances enjoyment of women’s rights – property, inheritance, alimony, child custody, ability to remarry in cases where they are widowed or divorced
Facilitates registration of births, including from subsequent marriages

5. Approach with the 3RP
Multi-sectoral approach to delivering tailored support in registering new births, with active coordination within local and national protection working groups
National And Regional Coordination
3RP brings together over 200 partners
Advocacy through No Lost Generation and other platforms
Protection Working Groups and specialised sub-groups
Greater integration with maternal health sector (with significant improvements)
Legal aid and counseling
Community engagement & awareness raising
Joint advocacy for accessible national systems and procedures
MATERNAL HEALTH:
LEBANON:
In 2015, UNHCR supported 33,000 Syrians in receiving maternal health services including safe deliveries in hospital --> contributing to 98% percent of all Syrian newborns in the country receiving a medical birth notification
JORDAN:
Maternal health programming contributed to reported rates of 96% of women out of camp giving birth in hospital, and 100% of women in camp giving birth in hospital.
LEGAL AID AND COUNSELING
Lebanon: UNHCR, NRC and other key partners are reaching larger numbers of refugees in terms of providing critical information and legal assistance, when required

6. Lebanon: Birth Registration Procedures and Challenges
1 Year Deadline
If birth certificate is not registered with the Nofous within 1 year (step 3), a court case must be filed
Lack of legal stay (only 40% have it)
Limits freedom of movement to reach necessary offices
Prevents registering the birth certificate with Foreigner’s Registry  birth will not be included in national statistics
STEPS
1. Obtain Birth Notification
2. Obtain Birth Certificate from Mukhtar
3. Register with Nofous
4. Foreigner’s Register of the PSD
5. Lebanon’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs
6. Syrian Embassy
Birth registration is highly complex (3 steps for nationals, 6 for non-nationals)
CONCLUSION
UNHCR survey conducted at the end of 2015 among 2,500 Syrian refugees who approached UNHCR to record the birth of their new born babies between January and August 2015.
Estimated that 98% obtain a Birth Notification
Estimated that 79% are able to obtain a Mukhtar-issued Birth Certificate
Estimated that 32% register the BC with Nofous
Estimated that 22% register with Foreigner’s Register
Lebanon’s 1951 Personal Status Law
First birth registration deadline – 30 days, followed by 1,000 LBP fine
After 1 year – birth can only be registered through a court procedure
2. Documents required by the mukhtar: (1) the birth notification document; (2) the identity documents of the parents; and (3) sometimes also proof of marriage.
3. Nofous should assign a number to the birth certificate --> even if parents have limited supporting documentation and lack proof of valid stay
4. Foreigner’s Register: (1) the birth certificate stamped by the mukhtar; (2) the identity documents of the parents along with proof of marriage (either the family booklet – or the family civil extract stamped by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lebanon and in Syria and issued within the past six months – or valid passports and a certified marriage certificate); and (3) evidence of valid stay such as a return coupon.

7. Jordan: Birth Registration Procedures and Challenges
1 Year Deadline
Informal Marriages
Loss and destruction of Syrian identity documents
Children born in Syria but never documented or registered there
Remoteness of judicial and civil registration services
SOLUTIONS
Waiver of deadline
Time-bound waiver periods in 2014 and Policy for informal marriages in Syria.
Acceptance of photocopies and witness testimony
Issuance of alternative documentation
Mobile and in-camp judicial and civil registration services
STEPS
1. Obtain Birth Notification
2. Register Birth with the Civil Status Department

8. Regional trends
Increase in the number and percentage of Syrian refugee children registered and documented at birth
If all stages of an official birth registration procedure cannot be completed immediately, refugee children have a minimum level of documentation that: 1) helps to establish key facts related to their protection; 2) allows for the official birth registration procedure to be completed at a later date
Governments, communities and humanitarian actors are more engaged; civil registration systems, in many cases, are becoming more accessible
In Jordan, the number of birth certificates issued in camps increased 12-fold from 2012 (before these measures were in place) to 2015.
In 2013, roughly 300 birth certificates were issued to children born in camps
In 2015, over 3,600 were issued to children born in camps.
Regionally, the percentage of Syrian refugee children born in 3RP countries (Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey) who received no documentation from the country of asylum at birth (neither a medical birth notification, nor a birth certificate) was reduced from 35% in 2012 to 7% in 2015.

9. UNHCR Registration
A protection tool to verify family composition & manage assistance
Marriages – Registration as a family not limited to those with formal marriage certificates. Informal proof of marriage is also accepted. If there are no documents proving marital status, UNHCR verifies family composition per established procedures.
Births – Record birth notifications and birth certificates. But our records capture the documentation the family has when adding a newborn to their file – we encourage refugees to bring new/updated documents to UNHCR as they obtain them, but this is not always done. Need to triangulate data on birth registration with other data sources.
Deaths – Generally recorded upon provision of a death certificate.