CRC/C/MKD/CO/2 31. In the light of article 12 of the Convention and taking into account the Committee’s general comment No. 12 (2009) on the right of the child to be heard (CRC/C/CG/12), the Committee recommends that the State party ensure that all relevant legislation guarantees the right of the child to be heard in judicial and administrative proceedings and in accordance with his or her evolving capacities. In addition, the Committee recommends that the State party promote and facilitate, within the family and in schools, the community and society at large, respect for the views of children and their participation in all matters affecting them. 3. Civil rights and freedoms (arts. 7, 8, 13-17, 19 and 37 (a) of the Convention) Name, nationality and birth registration 32. The Committee welcomes the State party’s commitment to and progress achieved in the area of prevention and reduction of statelessness through improvements in civil registration and issuance of identity documents. The Committee is nevertheless concerned that there remains a number of children who lack registration and identity documentation, many of whom are children in street situations and Roma children, and that there is no strategy for identifying children who lack birth registration and/or identity documentation. The Committee is further concerned that documents attesting to the status of refugee children and children under subsidiary protection are only issued upon request by a lawyer. The Committee is deeply concerned that the absence of identification documents prevents children from accessing education, health and public services, including child allowances. 33. The Committee urges the State party to: (a) Undertake a survey to identify children lacking birth registration and/or identity documents and take immediate administrative and judicial measures to ensure retroactive birth registration and issuance of documents for these children; (b) Ensure that the status of children among refugees and persons under subsidiary protection is documented and certified; (c) Take immediate measures to ensure that children lacking identity documents are not refused access to education, health and public services, including child allowances; (d) Continue fulfilling its international obligations and raising protection standards with regard to stateless children, in particular by establishing a specific statelessness determination procedure; and (e) Ratify the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 1961 and the Council of Europe Convention on the avoidance of statelessness in relation to State succession of 2006. Preservation of identity 34. The Committee is concerned about the practice of “secret” adoption and that legislation allows for adopted children to be registered with the names of the adoptive parents and for the identity of the biological parents not be revealed, and that the law does not require the preservation of information concerning the child’s origin, in particular information concerning the identity of the biological parents, as well as the medical history. 35. The Committee recommends that the State party undertake legislative and other measures to ensure the preservation of information on the origin of adopted children, in particular information concerning the identity of the biological parents, as 7