Israel to stop issuing birth certificates to babies born to foreigners - ?

[pampango]

Members of the Jewish Ethiopian community demonstrate outside the supreme court in Jerusalem.

Israel is to stop issuing birth certificates to babies born to foreigners – a move targeted at migrants but will also encompass diplomats and other international workers. The absence of official documentation is likely to cause major problems when applying for passports and other identity papers. The Israeli government says it has no legal obligation to issue official birth certificates to foreigners, and intends to stop doing so to prevent foreigners using such documentation to claim the right to stay in the country. Instead, foreigners will be given hospital-issued birth notices, which are currently hand-written in Hebrew.

A legal challenge, due to be heard on Sunday, has been brought by the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and two other rights groups on behalf of a family of asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo. A child born to parents with permission to stay in Israel and in possession of work permits was denied a birth certificate including the father's name. The ministry of interior also refused the parents' request to give the child her father's last name.

Oded Feller, a lawyer with ACRI, said: "The state has an obligation to protect the identities of all the children in Israel equally. It is also obligated to grant all children, without discrimination, birth certificates. The interior ministry is not authorised to erase elements of a child's identity. It is not entitled to cancel the parenthood of fathers who are not Israeli, nor is it authorised to take away the names given to children by their parents."

The UN convention on the rights of the child, which Israel has signed, says full birth records are a fundamental right.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/20/israel-birth-certificates-foreigners

I never heard of a country not issuing birth certificates. Obviously, countries treat native-born babies of foreign parents differently in terms of legal residency and citizenship, but not to give them a birth certificate?

[madrchsod]

1. wrong forum?

the right of return is now biting them in the ass.