n addition to the constraints related to lack of legal stay, lack of documentation remains a challenge for refugees wishing to register birth, marriage, divorce and death civil records. Refugee children who are not registered at the Noufous (local civil registry) within the one-year deadline need to go through a lengthy and costly court procedure to obtain birth registration. However, refugees do benefit from Laws 160 and 185 suspending all deadlines during the period 18 October 2019 to 31 December 2020. Accordingly, the deadline of one year related to birth registration stopped running during that period and only resumed after it from the point it reached on 18 October 2019 . Without a birth certificate, a child can be at risk of statelessness. In addition, a person lacking birth registration will face obstacles to access services and to obtain identification documents from their country of origin. Confiscation of identification documents by sponsors, landlords, employers, hospitals, and public institutions remains a primary concern for this refugee group. Additionally, funding limitations affect the ability of UNHCR partners to make legal interventions in favour of this population. According to the preliminary findings from the 2020 VARON 66% of births of refugee children that occurred in Lebanon have registered the birth at the Nofus level, while 51% have completed the birth registration process at the Foreigners’ Registry level (a decrease from 66% in 2019).
In 2021, UNHCR will focus on assistance with civil status registration or documentation (birth, marriage and death), advocate for an inclusive waiver of fees for obtaining temporary legal residency, raise awareness on the importance of birth registration through mass information targeting new parents during registration of new-born children with UNHCR, and capacity building of key stakeholders.
UNHCR will also advocate for the removal of obstacles to the completion of the civil registration processes for birth, marriage, divorce and death. Likewise, UNHCR will continue to map civil registration practices at hospitals, mukhtars, Noufous and religious courts with a particular focus on requirements at the level of the Personal Status Department (PSD) and the GSO. UNHCR will continue to raise awareness among the refugee community through dissemination of leaflets, posters, animated films, TV spots, radio spots and other mass information tools.
UNHCR Reception Centres will continue to play a key role in identifying new-borns as families come to include them to their UNHCR registration file. At UNHCR Reception Centres, basic counselling and awareness raising on the birth registration procedures will be provided and families having difficulties following the procedure will be referred to legal partners for assistance. Counsellors will focus on the importance of birth and marriage registration and on ensuring familiarity with the procedures and applicable standards. UNHCR will provide statistical reporting on levels of birth registration and barriers to birth registration. Partners will also provide extensive individual counselling and legal assistance to ensure that refugees who are unable to complete the procedure on their own obtain birth documentation for their children.