
Apostille
An apostille is a certificate by a government office to official documents to validate signatures and seals, so that they will be accepted when presented to persons or authorities in other countries. The authentication of only the seals and signatures and not the contents of the document to which it is attached. The legal framework is the Apostille Convention drafted by the Hague conference on Private International Law. The UK signed it in 1965 and issues apostille certificates from the Apostille Service of the Government’s Legalisation Office in Coventry. Private documents for use in other countries may need to be notarised.
Birth registration
The claimant, who had been born female, transitioned to live as male and started medical treatment, including testosterone therapy and a double mastectomy. In 2017 he obtained a transgender recognition certificate confirming his gender as male. In 2018 he gave birth to a son and was informed that he would be registered as the child’s mother, which, he asserted, breached his right under ECHR art 8 to