A/HRC/39/30 requirements that they cannot satisfy, as earlier generations are unlikely to have been able to register their vital events or to be in possession of civil registration documents.25 24. Registration forms may not be made available in indigenous or minority languages, and there is often inadequate awareness within these communities of the right to, and benefits of, birth registration. Lower birth registration rates among minority and indigenous children contribute to their exclusion from national policies and programmes, and can lead to chronic underestimation of child mortality rates in these communities due to the lack of data on their births and deaths in national registers.26 F. Children born in a migration or displacement context 25. Birth registration is fundamental to the prevention of statelessness, and is essential to protect children born to parents who are in an irregular migration situation, or to refugee or asylum-seeking parents. While birth registration in itself does not confer citizenship on a child, it can demonstrate the link between an individual and the State, by documenting where a child was born and who the child’s parents are. When a child’s birth is not registered, they are at heightened risk of statelessness if, for example, they lack evidence to prove their right to a nationality and the State refuses to acknowledge them as a citizen. 26. In some countries, discriminatory policies and practices persist with respect to the birth registration of children of migrant persons in irregular situations, refugees and asylum seekers. For instance, when criminalized, irregular migration has proved to be a deterrent to child birth registration, because parents usually fear detention and/or deportation and therefore try to avoid all contact with local authorities. 27 In this respect, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families recommend to States to remove legal and practical obstacles to birth registration, including by prohibiting data sharing between health-care providers or civil servants responsible for registration, on the one hand, and immigration enforcement authorities, on the other, and by not requiring parents to produce documentation regarding their migration status.28 27. States must guarantee the human rights of all children in the context of migration and displacement, by ensuring inter alia that every child born in such contexts is properly registered, without charge and regardless of the migration or residence status of their parent(s) or other guardians. 29 In addition to being an obligation under international human rights law, registering the births of these children is important to ensure equal access to rights and services, and accurate national data on the population in the host country. It can be essential in order to support a child’s repatriation and return to his or her country of origin where appropriate. G. Conflict and humanitarian situations 28. Armed conflict, humanitarian situations or other emergencies frequently disrupt civil registration processes, and lead to the destruction of birth records when no digital civil registration system is in place. They also present new challenges, or intensify pre-existing 25 26 27 28 29 Submission from Minority Rights Group. Mariana Muzzi, “UNICEF good practices in integrating birth registration into health systems (2000– 2009)”, UNICEF working paper (January 2010), p. 11. See A/64/213. See joint general comment No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families/No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of the Child on State obligations regarding the human rights of children in the context of international migration in countries of origin, transit, destination and return. See principle 10 of the OHCHR and Global Migration Group principles and guidelines, supported by practical guidance, on the human rights protection of migrants in vulnerable situations. 7