Issue 27. Birth Registration 121. In May 2019, the Government announced that, in order to ensure that all children are registered and protected by the State, it would introduce a birth notification system under which all births at medical institutions should be reported to State agencies and strengthen the system for identifying and protecting children at risk. Accordingly, the Act on Registration of Family Relations has been amended to enforce the birth notification system from July 2024. Besides, the Government announced in February 2021 that it would expedite the introduction of a birth registration system for foreign children, and a legislative bill of the Foreign Child Birth Registration Act is currently being considered. 122. The legislative bill of Foreign Child Birth Registration Act, which is currently under review, stipulates that applications for birth registration, the issuance of birth certificates, applications for the correction of information contained therein, etc. may be delegated to the heads of local immigration offices and the heads of administrative bodies. However, local immigration offices, which are responsible for managing the entry and departure, and the stay of foreigners, are virtually inaccessible to undocumented migrants. Even if there are separate reception desks at the local administrative bodies, the fact that local immigration offices have the same authority is bound to cause anxiety and fear among undocumented migrants. 123. Meanwhile, the personal information of children collected through birth registration should be used solely for the purpose of child protection.117 The legislative bill also exempts public officials from the obligation to notify under the Immigration Act and blocks immigration control officials from accessing information related to birth registration. However, as the mere involvement of local immigration offices in the birth registration process can be a barrier for migrant parents in undocumented status, the Government needs to make it clear that applying for the birth registration of a foreign child to a public agency does not result in any disadvantage. In particular, it needs to consider stipulating a declarative provision for duty bearers, such as “the child birth registration information should not be used for other purposes including the immigration offender enforcement,” so that public officials and all other persons involved in the birth registration of foreign children follow this norm. 124. Proposed recommendation: The State party should, in introducing the birth registration system for foreign children, establish a procedure for application that is accessible and usable by all foreign children and their guardians. In addition, it should make sure that the information obtained from the birth registration is used only for the protection of foreign children.118 27