Good news for Child Protection Week . Our client, Nosi, and her sister got birth certificates today after 2 Children's Court orders. She was refused admission to school, because she didn't have a birth certificate. In South Africa providing schooling to undocumented children is seen as a crime (even though it is a misinterpretation of the law). Schools are being increasingly pressured by Home Affairs to deny undocumented children the right to basic education, by threat of a fine or imprisonment. Foreign and citizen children alike are entitled to go to school. Many South African children are undocumented due to the strict requirements for birth registration since the amendment of the Births and Deaths Registration Act in 2014. Nosi is the child of a South African citizen father and is therefore automatically South African. However, the Act does not allow single fathers to register their children's births if the mother is undocumented. Thankfully, the Children's Court intervened. It has been a long journey and lots of hard work, but it was worth it. Ideally Home Affairs should amend their laws so that children, like Nosi, won't need to find a lawyer in order to access her right to a name and a nationality from birth (section 28 - RSA Constitution). Without a birth certificate children are at risk of statelessness. Share the petition today to ask the Minister to help undocumented and stateless children! Happy #ChildProtectionWeek #DocumentingChildren