CRC/C/ISR/CO/2-4 proceedings that concern them. The Committee also recommends that the State party establish clear mechanisms and guidelines for an effective implementation in practice of the right of the child to be heard and ensure that the views of the child are taken into account by policymaking bodies and that children are provided with adequate responses to their proposals. D. Civil rights and freedom (arts.7, 8, 13-17, 19 and 37 (a) of the Convention) Birth registration / nationality 29. The Committee, while noting that Section 6 of the Population Registry Law establishes a duty to notify a registration officer of the Ministry of Interior of every birth that occurs in Israel, expresses concern that: (a) The ban on the granting of Israeli citizenship to children born of an Israeli parent and a parent from the OPT, the decision of the State party to stop processing residency applications for Palestinian children since 2000 as well as the arbitrary revocation of residency and identity of those living in East Jerusalem have resulted in thousands of unregistered Palestinian children excluded from access to health services, education and any other type of social benefits as well as in thousands of children being prevented from living with their parents; (b) Children of migrants born in the State party often do not receive an official birth certificate but a hand-written official notification without the father’s name being indicated. The Committee is also concerned about information that migrant families who are unable to cover the cost of hospitalization might be denied birth notification, and about reported cases of migrant families who have to pay exorbitant costs for a DNA test in order to have the father’s name included in the birth notification. The Committee is further concerned about reported cases of families forced to sign voluntary return declarations to be able to obtain official birth certificates. 30. The Committee urges the State party to take immediate steps to repeal all legal provisions which result in denying the right of Palestinian children to be registered immediately after birth in violation of article 7, paragraph 1, of the Convention, to acquire a nationality and to be cared for by their parents. To this end, the State party is urged to transfer the population registry to the Palestinian Authority. The Committee also urges the State party to issue free birth certificates indicating the names of both parents to all children of migrants as it is done for Israeli children. The issuance of birth certificates should in no way be made conditional on the signing of “voluntary” return declarations. Right to identity 31. The Committee is concerned about the provisions of the Adoption of Children Law which allows hiding from a child the fact that he or she has been adopted. The Committee is also concerned about the 2008 reasoning of the Family Matters and District court of Haifa which considered that allowing a paternity test was not in the best interests of the child as it might result in the child being labelled as a “bastard” according to Jewish Halasha. 32. In the light of article 7 of the Convention, the Committee recommends that the State party ensure, as far as possible, respect for the child’s right to know his or her parents’ identity in the case of an adopted child or a child born out of wedlock who has not been recognized by either of his or her parents. It also urges the State party to ensure that religious laws be brought in line with the Convention and do not contain derogatory language against children born out of wedlock. 8