A/HRC/39/30 weaknesses in civil registration systems. 30 The displacement of populations within or across borders further hinders birth registration and the retrieval of documents. 29. Children’s vulnerability to violence and abuse is greatly heightened in such situations, yet it is significantly more difficult to trace and protect those children whose births are not registered. Thus, a continuity of reliable systems for registration in conflict and humanitarian situations can help to mitigate the many wider risks and vulnerabilities that children face as a result of the situation. 30. In addition, birth registration plays a central role in preventing the involvement of children in armed conflict, as it provides proof of age for those being recruited voluntarily or facing conscription. Following the involvement of children in conflict or other humanitarian crisis situations, information contained on their birth certificate can be essential to facilitate their return home and reunification with their families. IV. Strengthening birth registration through good practices 31. In order to advance global efforts to realize the right to birth registration and achieve target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals, it is essential to apply a human rightsbased approach, including strategies to reach all children without discrimination. This requires building on good practices that have been demonstrably successful at registering the children who are the most marginalized and the hardest to reach. 32. Birth registration should be free and compulsory, and should take place immediately in the country in which the child is born. An accessible and efficient process for late birth registration should be in place for those children or adults who were for any reason not registered immediately at birth, which should be free from fines or other penalties. 33. If a child lacks a birth certificate, this should never be a reason to refuse their access to other essential services to which they have a right, including health, education, social welfare, and other forms of legal identification, such as an identity card or passport. A. Overcoming barriers to accessing birth registration 34. Procedures for birth registration and certification should be made simple and accessible to all without discrimination, with special measures to reach children from the poorest and most marginalized or otherwise at-risk groups. Measures to support access to birth registration should include removing registration fees and fines or penalties for late registration; ensuring accessible and efficient processes for late registration in cases where children have not been registered at birth; removing requirements to provide prior documentation as a condition for registration where such documentation is difficult or impossible to obtain; ensuring that registration documents can be easily understood by all, and are made available in minority local languages and comprehensible formats; prohibiting data sharing between health providers or civil servants responsible for registration, and immigration enforcement authorities; and not requiring parents to produce documentation regarding their migration status. 35. The targeted efforts required to reach children at greatest risk of not being registered at birth depend on the particular circumstances of these children in each different national context. Programmes to reach them should be planned in consultation with the communities and children themselves, with the aim of overcoming all forms of discrimination, including on the basis of the child’s or their parents’ immigration status, social origin, sex, ethnicity, disability status, or birth out of wedlock. 36. In Chile, access to birth registration has been supported by allocating the responsibility to officials who are equipped to register children at a local level in all regions. Civil officers tasked with registering births receive dedicated training in laws 30 8 Plan International, Birth Registration in Emergencies: A Review of Best Practices in Humanitarian Action (2014).