36. The Communication alleges that the Respondent State violated Articles 6, in particular sub-articles (2), (3) and (4), Article 3, and as a result of these two alleged violations, a list of “consequential violations” including Article 11(3) and Article 14. Decision on the merits Alleged Violation of Article 6 37. Article 6 of the African Children’s Charter, titled “Name and Nationality”, provides in full that: 1. Every child shall have the right from his birth to a name 2. Every child shall be registered immediately after birth. 3. Every child has the right to acquire a nationality. 4. States Parties to the present Charter shall undertake to ensure that their Constitutional legislation recognize the principles according to which a child shall acquire the nationality of the State in the territory of which he has been born if, at the time of the child’s birth, he is not granted nationality by any other State in accordance with its laws. 38. It is rightly said that birth registration is the State’s first official acknowledgment of a child’s existence, and a child who is not registered at birth is in danger of being shut out of society – denied the right to an official identity, a recognized name and a nationality.9The Complainants allege that the treatment of children of Nubian descent violates their right to be registered at the time of their birth, because some parents have difficulty having their children registered especially since many public hospital officials refuse to issue birth certificates to children of Nubian descent. Such a limitation is confirmed by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHCR) that identified and recorded practices indicating discrimination against certain population groups, including persons of Nubian descent, in the grant of birth registration and identity documents.10 40. Both the African Committee (2009) and the CRC Committee (2007) have already recommended through their concluding observations to the Government of Kenya that there is some gap in the State Party’s birth registration practice, partly reflected in the number and categories (such as children born out of wedlock, children of minority groups, and children of refugee, asylum-seeking or migrant families) of births that go unregistered. Unregistered children are not issued birth certificates and thus rendered stateless, as they cannot prove their nationality, where they were born, or to whom. The African Committee is of the view that the obligation of the State Party under the African Children’s Charter in relation to making sure that all children are registered immediately after birth is not only limited to passing laws (and policies),11 but also extends to addressing all de facto limitations and obstacles to birth registration.12 41. The Complainants have further alleged that even when birth certificates are issued, See UNICEF “Birth registration: Right from the start” (March 2002) Innocenti Digest No 9, 1. See generally, KNCHR, “An Identity Crisis? Study on the issuance of national identity cards in Kenya” (2007). 11 It remains to be seen in practice the extent to which the guarantee in the 2010 Constitution, particularly in Article 12(1)(b) which states that “[e]very citizen is entitled to a Kenyan passport and to any document of registration and identification issued by the State to citizens” will improve this situation. 12 This can sometimes be achieved through a universal, well-managed registration that is based on the principle of non-discrimination and accessible to all (using e.g. mobile registration units for children living in remote areas) and free of charge. See J.E. Doek “The CRC and the right to acquire and to preserve a nationality” (2006) 25(3) Refugee Survey Quarterly 26. 9 10 8