39/30 Best practices and specific measures to ensure access to birth registration, particularly for those children most at risk - Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

GE.18-13276(E)



Human Rights Council Thirty-ninth session

10–28 September 2018

Agenda items 2 and 3

Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights and reports of the Office of

the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General

Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,

political, economic, social and cultural rights,

including the right to development

Best practices and specific measures to ensure access to birth registration, particularly for those children most at risk*

Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Summary

The present report was prepared in accordance with resolution 34/15 of the Human

Rights Council, in which the Council requested the United Nations High Commissioner for

Human Rights to prepare a report on best practices and specific measures to ensure access

to birth registration, particularly for those children most at risk, marginalized and living in

situations of conflict, poverty, emergency or vulnerability, including children belonging to

minority groups, children with disabilities, indigenous children, and children of migrants,

asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons, taking into account the commitment to

implement target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

* The present document was submitted late to the conference services without the explanation required under paragraph 8 of General Assembly resolution 53/208 B.

United Nations A/HRC/39/30

Contents

Page

I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3

II. International legal framework ....................................................................................................... 4

III. Risks for marginalized children and those in vulnerable situations .............................................. 4

A. Child trafficking, sale of children and child labour .............................................................. 5

B. Children born into poverty and exclusion ............................................................................. 5

C. Gender discrimination .......................................................................................................... 5

D. Children with disabilities ...................................................................................................... 6

E. Indigenous and minority children ......................................................................................... 6

F. Children born in a migration or displacement context .......................................................... 7

G. Conflict and humanitarian situations .................................................................................... 7

IV. Strengthening birth registration through good practices ............................................................... 8

A. Overcoming barriers to accessing birth registration ............................................................. 8

B. Countering gender discrimination ......................................................................................... 12

C. Protecting children with disabilities ...................................................................................... 12

D. Reaching indigenous and minority communities .................................................................. 13

E. Preventing and addressing statelessness ............................................................................... 14

F. Ensuring continuity in conflict and humanitarian situations ................................................. 14

G. Monitoring and data management ........................................................................................ 15

V. International and regional cooperation .......................................................................................... 16

VI. Conclusions and recommendations ............................................................................................... 16

I. Introduction

1. In its resolution 34/15, the Human Rights Council requested the United Nations

High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a report on best practices and specific

measures to ensure access to birth registration, particularly for those children most at risk,

marginalized and living in situations of conflict, poverty, emergency or vulnerability,

including children belonging to minority groups, children with disabilities, indigenous

children, and children of migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons, taking

into account the commitment to implement target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development

Goals, and to submit the report to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-ninth session.1

2. The present report follows two prior reports to Human Rights Council addressing

the right to birth registration, entitled “Birth registration and the right of everyone to

recognition everywhere as a person before the law” 2 and “Strengthening policies and

programmes for universal birth registration and vital statistics development”.3 It provides

examples of good practices, informed by written contributions received from 16 States and

14 civil society organizations as well as United Nations agencies and other international

entities.4

3. All children have a right to birth registration and to be recognized as persons before

the law, and States must register all children immediately at birth without discrimination of

any kind. Birth registration is a key step to establishing the legal recognition of a child, and

subsequently to upholding their rights throughout their lives. For example, birth registration

provides a fundamental basis for claiming the right to citizenship, and associated civil and

political rights, such as the right to vote, and is often requested when a person is seeking to

access employment, health care, education, or welfare services.

4. Ensuring birth registration is crucial to protecting children from abuse, exploitation

and violence. When a child is not registered at birth, he or she faces a heightened risk of

statelessness, discrimination and abuse, particularly in the form of child labour, recruitment

into armed forces, trafficking, or child marriage.

5. The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines the obligation of States to ensure

the right to birth registration and to legal identity for all children. These obligations are

further reflected across multiple human rights conventions and instruments. In the 2030

Agenda for Sustainable Development, States committed themselves to implementing the

right to legal identity and universal birth registration for all children by 2030, under target

16.9.

6. Although global birth registration rates have increased in recent decades, it is of

great concern that, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 290

million children still do not have a birth certificate. 5 Children born into certain

circumstances are much more likely to miss out on birth registration, particularly those

living in situations of poverty, conflict or other emergencies, and children belonging to

minority groups, children with disabilities, indigenous children, and the children of

migrants, asylum seekers, refugees or stateless persons. The birth registration measures

currently in place are therefore failing millions of the most excluded children worldwide,

who are rendered even more vulnerable to violence, abuse and exploitation.

7. Effective, human rights-based approaches are crucial to make the substantial

improvements necessary to achieve universal birth registration, by reaching those who are

the most marginalized and living in vulnerable situations. Active and targeted measures

must be taken to reach them, and the examples of good practice summarized in the present

1 See Human Rights Council resolution 34/15, para. 19.

2 A/HRC/27/22.

3 A/HRC/33/22.

4 Available at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Children/ThematicReports/Pages/

BirthRegistrationVulnerableMarginalizedChildren.aspx.

5 UNICEF, Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and Trends in Birth Registration (New York, 2013).

report indicate that this has already been done in many countries. States can build on these

examples to overcome barriers to realizing the right to birth registration so that all children

are made visible, can be counted, and are supported in claiming their rights.

II. International legal framework

8. The right of all children to recognition as persons before the law is made clear in

article 6 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the right to birth registration is

specified in article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The right of children to

be registered immediately after birth is also stated in article 24 of the International

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 6

9. The Committee on the Rights of the Child recommends that States take all necessary

measures to ensure that all children are registered at birth through a universal, well-

managed registration system that is accessible to all and free of charge.7 All children should

have access to birth registration in the country where they are born, including non-

nationals, asylum seekers, refugees and stateless children.8

10. The right to birth registration and legal identity is, furthermore, reflected in the

International Convention on the Protection of Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members

of Their Families (art. 29) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

(art. 18). International refugee and humanitarian law, including the Convention on the

Reduction of Statelessness, defines State obligations to realize the right to birth registration

for the children of refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons.

11. Birth registration should be provided in accordance with the general child rights

principles of non-discrimination, the best interests of the child, their right to life, survival

and development, and the right of the child to express his or her views. In addition, States

must fulfil the right to birth registration without discrimination of any kind on the basis of

the child’s or his or her guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other

opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.9

III. Risks for marginalized children and those in vulnerable situations

12. The children who are missing out on birth registration are primarily those who are

the most marginalized, subjected to discrimination and living in vulnerable situations.10 For

example, even in countries with high overall registration rates, children from the poorest

households are approximately twice as likely to be unregistered as those from the richest.11

13. Children who are not registered at birth are placed at increased risk of further rights

violations throughout their lives. Birth registration is fundamental to protecting children

from violence, statelessness, abduction or sale, and other forms of exploitation and abuse.

Children lacking a birth certificate are also at risk of being left out from health systems and

from access to immunization and schooling, among other rights violations.

6 The international legal framework with respect to birth registration and the right to legal identity has

been analysed in detail in previous reports submitted to the Human Rights Council. See A/HRC/27/22

and A/HRC/33/22.

7 See A/HRC/27/22.

8 Ibid.

9 See article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child; see also A/HRC/28/13.

10 See A/HRC/33/22.

11 Ibid.

A. Child trafficking, sale of children and child labour

14. The legal invisibility of unregistered children makes them more vulnerable to

trafficking, sale, child labour and illegal adoption. This is exacerbated by the fact that cases

of a child’s disappearance or exploitation are more easily hidden from authorities when the

child does not legally exist in national registers. Migrant children without birth registration

or a birth certificate are especially vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, particularly if they

are in an irregular situation. In such a context, they may come into contact with illicit

intermediaries who are involved in these forms of exploitation.

15. Birth registration is a crucial step in protecting children from child labour, as it

provides an essential means of proving their age when it is below the minimum age of

employment. It is important in this respect to consider, however, that falsified birth

certificates are used in some cases to indicate an inaccurate age of a child. In order to

prevent child labour effectively, minimum ages for employment in line with international

human rights and employment standards must be monitored and enforced. Birth registration

also serves to protect children in conflict with the law by supporting the right to neither be

prosecuted as adults, nor detained with adults,12 and is a crucial element in combating child

marriage, including by supporting the enforcement of laws prohibiting this violation of

children’s rights.

B. Children born into poverty and exclusion

16. The barriers to accessing birth registration can be insurmountable for children born

into poverty, who may live in rural areas without affordable access to transport, in

households with very low incomes and literacy levels, and whose parents often have limited

awareness of their rights and how to claim them. In many countries, birth registration

processes are overly complex and time-consuming, with multiple steps before a birth

certificate is issued, fees for registration, and fines or penalties for late registration. The

costs involved and time required for transport to registration offices can be prohibitive for

families who are struggling to survive.

17. In some countries, birth registration is contingent on the provision of prior

documentation, such as parents’ birth or marriage certificates, or their residence permits,

which for families living in poverty or in remote areas may be difficult or impossible to

obtain. A lack of awareness about procedures, and about the rights and benefits associated

with birth registration, and a lack of information on birth registration in local and minority

languages, exacerbates these obstacles for the poorest families.13

C. Gender discrimination

18. Discriminatory laws and practices have adverse effects on birth registration rates.

Registration may be prevented due to discrimination on the grounds of a child’s or his or

her parent’s gender, ethnicity, race or religion, or on other grounds. Gender discrimination

is a serious barrier to registration in countries where only men are legally allowed to

register a child, or where both the mother, together with the father or another male relative,

must be present in order to do so. Such laws discriminate against the mother, and prevent

the registration of children who are born as a result of rape or out of wedlock. Mothers may

also be reluctant to approach authorities in contexts where births out of wedlock are highly

stigmatized. Children from non-traditional family arrangements also risk not being

registered due to discrimination, such as those born to sex workers or same-sex couples,

among others.14

12 See arts. 37 and 40 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

13 Submission from ATD Fourth World.

14 See A/HRC/23/50, para. 86.

19. Regulations and practices that discriminate on the grounds of gender and prevent

registration can lead to statelessness. Children are at risk of being left stateless in countries

where discriminatory laws prevent women from conferring their nationality on their child,

particularly when the father does not acknowledge the child. Many countries give a woman

unequal and lesser rights than a man to pass on citizenship to their children,15 and often

mothers are only allowed to confer nationality to children in specific circumstances, such as

where the father is unknown or stateless. In addition, procedural requirements for the

conferral of citizenship may be imposed on mothers which are not placed on fathers.16

20. Intersex children are often discriminated against in the context of birth registration

processes, and special measures are needed to ensure their registration. They are at risk of

undergoing medical procedures seeking to “normalize” their gender in order to satisfy

requirements that they be registered as either male or female, when they are too young to

provide their consent and decide how they wish to register their gender status.17

D. Children with disabilities

21. According to UNICEF estimates, between 93 million and 150 million children live

with disability globally, and children with disabilities are overrepresented among those

lacking a birth certificate. 18 They are thereby placed at risk of remaining invisible to

society, institutionalized, and neglected or left out from essential health, education and

other services.19 In many cases their non-registration is due to reluctance on the part of their

parents or families to register their births, on the basis of cultural prejudice or social

stigma. 20 Further to this, in some countries there are laws that directly or indirectly

discriminate against the birth registration of children with disabilities.

22. Children with disabilities are at risk of infanticide at birth in contexts where they or

their families are subject to intense social discrimination and stigma, and girls with

disabilities are at the greatest risk of this violation of their right to life.21 As a lack of birth

registration leads to a child’s invisibility due to a lack of legal recognition by the State, in

the absence of an official record of their birth such crimes occur with impunity. 22 The

vulnerabilities precipitated by failures to register the births of children with disabilities are

exacerbated in emergency settings, where they are at heightened risk of abuse, neglect,

exploitation, abandonment and exclusion from humanitarian assistance.23

E. Indigenous and minority children

23. Minorities and indigenous peoples are especially vulnerable to not being registered

at birth, and face heightened obstacles when they live in remote or border areas, are

nomadic or migrate, seek asylum or are refugees, or live in areas affected by conflict or

humanitarian situations. 24 Registration systems often directly or indirectly discriminate

against indigenous and minority children, for example due to prior documentary

15 Equality Now, The State We’re In: Ending Sexism in Nationality Laws (2016).

16 Submission from Equality Now and submission from Women Enabled International.

17 Submission from the Children Education Society.

18 UNICEF, “Children and young people with disabilities: fact sheet” (2013), p. 10.

19 See Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 9 (2006) on the rights of children

with disabilities.

20 See Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 7 (2005) on implementing child

rights in early childhood; and UNICEF, Promoting the Rights of Children with Disabilities (2007).

21 See Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 3 (2016) on women

and girls with disabilities.

22 See Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 1 (2014) on equal

recognition before the law.

23 See Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 9; and UNICEF and Handicap

International, Guidance on Including Children with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action (2017).

24 UNICEF, Every Child’s Birth Right.

requirements that they cannot satisfy, as earlier generations are unlikely to have been able

to register their vital events or to be in possession of civil registration documents.25

24. Registration forms may not be made available in indigenous or minority languages,

and there is often inadequate awareness within these communities of the right to, and

benefits of, birth registration. Lower birth registration rates among minority and indigenous

children contribute to their exclusion from national policies and programmes, and can lead

to chronic underestimation of child mortality rates in these communities due to the lack of

data on their births and deaths in national registers.26

F. Children born in a migration or displacement context

25. Birth registration is fundamental to the prevention of statelessness, and is essential

to protect children born to parents who are in an irregular migration situation, or to refugee

or asylum-seeking parents. While birth registration in itself does not confer citizenship on a

child, it can demonstrate the link between an individual and the State, by documenting

where a child was born and who the child’s parents are. When a child’s birth is not

registered, they are at heightened risk of statelessness if, for example, they lack evidence to

prove their right to a nationality and the State refuses to acknowledge them as a citizen.

26. In some countries, discriminatory policies and practices persist with respect to the

birth registration of children of migrant persons in irregular situations, refugees and asylum

seekers. For instance, when criminalized, irregular migration has proved to be a deterrent to

child birth registration, because parents usually fear detention and/or deportation and

therefore try to avoid all contact with local authorities.27 In this respect, the Committee on

the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant

Workers and Members of Their Families recommend to States to remove legal and practical

obstacles to birth registration, including by prohibiting data sharing between health-care

providers or civil servants responsible for registration, on the one hand, and immigration

enforcement authorities, on the other, and by not requiring parents to produce

documentation regarding their migration status.28

27. States must guarantee the human rights of all children in the context of migration

and displacement, by ensuring inter alia that every child born in such contexts is properly

registered, without charge and regardless of the migration or residence status of their

parent(s) or other guardians.29 In addition to being an obligation under international human

rights law, registering the births of these children is important to ensure equal access to

rights and services, and accurate national data on the population in the host country. It can

be essential in order to support a child’s repatriation and return to his or her country of

origin where appropriate.

G. Conflict and humanitarian situations

28. Armed conflict, humanitarian situations or other emergencies frequently disrupt civil

registration processes, and lead to the destruction of birth records when no digital civil

registration system is in place. They also present new challenges, or intensify pre-existing

25 Submission from Minority Rights Group.

26 Mariana Muzzi, “UNICEF good practices in integrating birth registration into health systems (2000–

2009)”, UNICEF working paper (January 2010), p. 11.

27 See A/64/213.

28 See joint general comment No. 4 (2017) of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All

Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families/No. 23 (2017) of the Committee on the Rights of

the Child on State obligations regarding the human rights of children in the context of international

migration in countries of origin, transit, destination and return.

29 See principle 10 of the OHCHR and Global Migration Group principles and guidelines, supported by

practical guidance, on the human rights protection of migrants in vulnerable situations.

weaknesses in civil registration systems.30 The displacement of populations within or across

borders further hinders birth registration and the retrieval of documents.

29. Children’s vulnerability to violence and abuse is greatly heightened in such

situations, yet it is significantly more difficult to trace and protect those children whose

births are not registered. Thus, a continuity of reliable systems for registration in conflict

and humanitarian situations can help to mitigate the many wider risks and vulnerabilities

that children face as a result of the situation.

30. In addition, birth registration plays a central role in preventing the involvement of

children in armed conflict, as it provides proof of age for those being recruited voluntarily

or facing conscription. Following the involvement of children in conflict or other

humanitarian crisis situations, information contained on their birth certificate can be

essential to facilitate their return home and reunification with their families.

IV. Strengthening birth registration through good practices

31. In order to advance global efforts to realize the right to birth registration and achieve

target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals, it is essential to apply a human rights-

based approach, including strategies to reach all children without discrimination. This

requires building on good practices that have been demonstrably successful at registering

the children who are the most marginalized and the hardest to reach.

32. Birth registration should be free and compulsory, and should take place immediately

in the country in which the child is born. An accessible and efficient process for late birth

registration should be in place for those children or adults who were for any reason not

registered immediately at birth, which should be free from fines or other penalties.

33. If a child lacks a birth certificate, this should never be a reason to refuse their access

to other essential services to which they have a right, including health, education, social

welfare, and other forms of legal identification, such as an identity card or passport.

A. Overcoming barriers to accessing birth registration

34. Procedures for birth registration and certification should be made simple and

accessible to all without discrimination, with special measures to reach children from the

poorest and most marginalized or otherwise at-risk groups. Measures to support access to

birth registration should include removing registration fees and fines or penalties for late

registration; ensuring accessible and efficient processes for late registration in cases where

children have not been registered at birth; removing requirements to provide prior

documentation as a condition for registration where such documentation is difficult or

impossible to obtain; ensuring that registration documents can be easily understood by all,

and are made available in minority local languages and comprehensible formats;

prohibiting data sharing between health providers or civil servants responsible for

registration, and immigration enforcement authorities; and not requiring parents to produce

documentation regarding their migration status.

35. The targeted efforts required to reach children at greatest risk of not being registered

at birth depend on the particular circumstances of these children in each different national

context. Programmes to reach them should be planned in consultation with the communities

and children themselves, with the aim of overcoming all forms of discrimination, including

on the basis of the child’s or their parents’ immigration status, social origin, sex, ethnicity,

disability status, or birth out of wedlock.

36. In Chile, access to birth registration has been supported by allocating the

responsibility to officials who are equipped to register children at a local level in all

regions. Civil officers tasked with registering births receive dedicated training in laws

30 Plan International, Birth Registration in Emergencies: A Review of Best Practices in Humanitarian

Action (2014).

regarding birth registration. While the immediate registration of all births is a priority,

provisions to accommodate late registration have contributed to increased registration rates.

A programme of electronic “pre-registration” is also being piloted, whereby information

regarding the expected birth of a child is registered during a mother’s pregnancy.31

37. In Mexico, the right to legal identity and birth registration is recognized by the

Constitution, which contains provisions to ensure that a lack of documentary evidence

proving the identity of a child will not act as a barrier to guaranteeing his or her rights.

Policies and programmes are in place to ensure the location and identification of

unregistered children, who are primarily those living in rural municipalities and from

certain population groups, including Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo and

Tabasco.32

38. In Togo, there is a legal obligation to report any unregistered child found abandoned

or in other situations of vulnerability, to the authorities. In order to ensure birth registration

for children in remote areas, mobile courts have been established in partnership with non-

governmental organizations (NGOs) and UNICEF. Auxiliary registration centres have been

set up in districts and villages to support access to birth registration for those living in rural

areas who are not able to reach primary registration centres.33

39. In Montenegro, decentralized procedures involving local courts have been

established, particularly to ensure the registration of children from the Roma, Ashkali and

Egyptian population, who are at heightened risk of missing out on birth registration when

they are born outside of medical institutions. Following legal reforms, local courts can now

submit birth registration information to the civil registry, and those registering the birth are

not required to pay any fees or taxes.34

1. Raising awareness

40. A central element of ensuring access to birth registration is ensuring that children,

their parents or guardians and their wider communities are aware of the right to birth

registration and of the responsibilities and benefits that go with it. All too often it is seen as

a bureaucratic formality, and the consequences of non-registration are not understood.

Reaching marginalized groups through culturally sensitive awareness-raising efforts has

been effective in raising the demand for birth registration. Outreach may include

awareness-raising campaigns through television or radio, or implementing local theatre and

community discussion groups.

41. In Nicaragua, the Government partnered with UNICEF to implement a participatory

project to strengthen birth registration within the most marginalized communities. In

consultation with families, it was found that many parents regarded birth registration as a

difficult, costly process with little direct benefit. Solutions were sought to integrate birth

registration with existing local practices, and following a participatory planning process

involving workshops with community leaders and representatives, local health centres were

identified as suitable locations to install mobile registry points. Religious leaders agreed to

play a key role in raising awareness of the rights and benefits associated with birth

registration.35

42. In partnership with UNICEF and Plan International, the Government of Indonesia

rolled out a decentralized birth registration system in over 60 districts, which functioned by

building local capacity and giving authority and responsibility to village leaders,

schoolteachers and midwives. Registration offices were established in remote areas, and

public information campaigns were carried out to raise awareness about the importance of

birth registration, which led to increased public demand for civil registration. This initiative

31 Submission from Chile.

32 Submission from Mexico.

33 Submission from Togo.

34 Submission from Montenegro.

35 UNICEF, “Prototyping human-centered policies for children in Nicaragua”, 15 January 2016,

available at https://blogs.unicef.org/innovation/prototyping-human-centered-policies-for-children-in-

nicaragua/.

also enabled a follow-up programme on women’s rights, involving citizen dialogues on

birth and marriage registration, thereby addressing the issue of child marriage.36

2. Integration with national services

43. Integrating birth registration processes with other State services and structures, for

example by offering registration alongside primary health-care services or immunization

programmes, has demonstrated strong results for children who would otherwise miss out on

birth registration. Such an approach can be especially helpful to reach children in situations

of conflict or humanitarian crisis.37 However, access to essential services to which children

have a right should never depend on a child being registered or holding a birth certificate.

44. In Sierra Leone, Plan International supported the development of an integrated

system of immunization services together with birth registration services. This proved to be

a cost-effective method through which a single programme could be delivered to ensure

more efficient delivery of both services at the same time, and supported the expansion of

birth registration.38

45. In the Dominican Republic, birth registration takes place directly in hospitals where

registration facilities have been installed. Certain aspects of registration are also carried out

in maternal and infant care facilities. Laws have been developed to support the late

registration of children from excluded groups of the population, in partnership with the

electoral registry council, which follows up on civil registry data and takes stock of

hospital-based birth registrations on a monthly basis.39

46. In Germany, there is collaboration with the health service to ensure birth

registration, and the notification of a birth by the medical professionals or others present is

compulsory, whether it occurs at a hospital, another birth facility or outside of such

facilities. In cases where documentation required for the issuance of a birth certificate is

missing, there are alternative means of satisfying these requirements, such as witness

testimonies or the acceptance of other documents.40

47. In Sudan, the Ministry of Health, in partnership with the World Health Organization,

UNICEF and Plan International, integrated birth registration within its regular annual

vaccination campaigns, including as part of its expanded national immunization

programme. This enabled civil registrars to access children born into conflict-affected

areas, remote rural communities, and situations of internal displacement, and thereby

significantly increased the rates of birth registration among children at risk.41

3. Mobile birth registration

48. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has noted that an effective system of birth

registration must be flexible and responsive to the circumstances of families, for example

by providing mobile registration units where appropriate. Initiatives in which mobile birth

registration units have been deployed to register children in rural, isolated or otherwise

excluded communities have often been effective at reaching children who would otherwise

not be registered. However, such measures tend to be short-term or temporary, and there is

a need to ensure their full integration with national registration systems through sustainable

approaches, including sustainable financing of the associated costs.42

49. In Uganda, in partnership with UNICEF and Uganda Telecom, the National

Identification and Registration Authority implemented an innovative technological solution

in the form of a Mobile Vital Records System. The Mobile Vital Records System was

developed to address the bottlenecks of the paper-based system, and to simplify and

36 Submission from Germany; and Plan International, Birth Registration in Emergencies.

37 Plan International, Innovations in Birth Registration (2017).

38 Submission from Plan International.

39 Submission from the Dominican Republic.

40 Submission from Germany.

41 Submission from Plan International.

42 Plan International, Birth Registration in Emergencies.

decentralize the registration process. By utilizing community health facilities and refugee

registration sites as mobile registration points, birth registration rates have been increased to

reach many children who would otherwise not be reached.43

50. In Colombia, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

(UNHCR), in partnership with Plan Colombia, established mobile civil registration units to

register children in communities living in isolated areas, targeting ethnic minority groups

and people displaced by armed conflict who had no proof of identity. The National Civil

Registry of Civil Status received technical assistance to develop birth registration policies

and responses, and was supported in developing a specialized Vulnerable Populations

Attention Unit.44

4. Innovative solutions and the use of technologies

51. The use of technology, particularly to implement digital civil registration systems,

can facilitate the exchange of information between different government departments

responsible for public services, and improve efficiencies in data collection and the accuracy

of vital statistics. Using digital technologies in birth registration processes can also expand

the reach of registration by streamlining processes and overcoming geographic and

administrative barriers.45 The digitization of registration systems helps to safeguard against

the risk of losing birth records during conflict or emergencies.46

52. States should consider the use of digital technology in civil registration systems

where appropriate, in partnership with relevant stakeholders including NGOs and

technology providers. Innovative technological solutions should be grounded in human

rights principles and standards, and need to be tailored to the specific requirements and

constraints of each national context. Recognizing that technology alone cannot bring about

change, digital birth registration programmes should be fully integrated within holistic

programmes whereby the use of technology is one of multiple enabling factors.

53. In Cambodia, UNICEF is utilizing mobile technology to improve birth registration,

through an initiative to address the challenge of communes running out of birth registration

documents. As these were not being consistently restocked in a timely manner within

certain commune offices, families were being turned away when attempting to register a

child’s birth. In partnership with the General Department of Identification, UNICEF

implemented an interactive voice response system, which, in combination with the use of

RapidPro technology, automatically notifies the Government of low stock levels, helping to

ensure that communes are consistently equipped to continue providing birth registration.

54. In the United Republic of Tanzania, in partnership with UNICEF, the Government

implemented a decentralized birth registration programme with the help of mobile phone

technology, supporting the registration of an additional 220,000 children under the age of 5

within four weeks in the regions of Iringa and Njombe. The mobile phone technology,

created by the Registration, Insolvency and Trustee Agency, enabled efficient collection,

verification and storage of birth registration data, and provided real-time data for

monitoring progress. Local government authorities were authorized to take responsibility

for registration, and the programme strengthened outreach to children in rural areas by

utilizing local health facilities and ward executive offices as registration points. In addition,

midwives, community health workers and traditional birth attendants were trained as birth

“notifiers”, using their mobile phones to send a message to central government offices, as a

first step towards issuance of a verified official birth certificate. The Registration,

Insolvency and Trustee Agency system has now been rolled out in additional target regions

in the United Republic of Tanzania, including Temeke, Mbeya and Mwanza.

43 Submission from Plan International.

44 Plan International, Innovations in Birth Registration.

45 Plan International, Identifying and Addressing Risks to Children in Digitised Birth Registration

Systems: A Step-by-Step Guide (2015).

46 Submission from Plan International.

55. In Switzerland, interdepartmental management of electronic data helps to make birth

registration processes more accurate and efficient, and births are recorded in an electronic

civil register. In order to streamline administrative procedures, the country has implemented

an electronic data harmonization programme through which common data is electronically

exchanged between administrative registers. This has supported interdepartmental

coordination on birth registration and other data, and enabled the simplification of

administrative tasks across different service areas.47

56. Plan International’s Birth Registration Innovation Team is in the process of

developing an open source civil registration and vital statistics software platform, on the

basis of United Nations standards, which will offer countries seeking to digitize their civil

registration and vital statistics systems free access to this software. It is possible to adapt

the software to each national context and integrate it with existing services in which civil

registration and vital statistics data is already collected, such as health systems and

population registers.48

B. Countering gender discrimination

57. It is critical that States overcome gender discrimination, particularly with respect to

nationality laws, civil registration requirements, and gender-discriminatory societal

attitudes, which are major obstacles to birth registration in certain national contexts. For

example, gender-discriminatory laws imposing criminal penalties on unmarried parents

who seek to register their children’s birth, and social stigma against unmarried parents and

children born out of wedlock, are obstacles to birth registration. Gender-specific

programmes are needed to ensure birth registration for children who are at heightened risk

of missing out due to being born of single mothers or female-headed households, or out of

wedlock.

58. Gender-discriminatory nationality laws must be abolished in order to ensure non-

discriminatory birth registration and address the root causes of statelessness. In particular,

women and men should be able equally to confer citizenship on their children.

59. Specific legal provisions and policy changes are needed in many countries to ensure

the registration of intersex children, who are at risk of non-registration, discrimination and

discriminatory medical practices. Sex registration laws should include provisions for an

intersex category to be noted on birth registration forms, such as an “I” or other third

category symbol in addition to “M” or “F”. It should also be possible to delay the sex

registration of intersex children on their birth certificate with no fixed time limit, until the

child is able to make an informed decision and voluntarily register under the “M” or “F”

category or another category.

C. Protecting children with disabilities

60. To support the birth registration and protection of newborn children with disabilities,

States must take steps to combat the social stigma and discrimination that they face, and

raise awareness about their rights. It is also important that parents, government officials,

religious leaders and medical personnel are informed about the importance of birth

registration for children with disabilities and the role that it plays in the fulfilment of their

other rights.

61. Information about birth registration should be made accessible to persons with

disabilities, and available in alternative formats and multiple languages, to ensure that

parents with disabilities can access this information. Discriminatory laws, policies and

practices that restrict the registration of births of children with disabilities in any way, or

47 Submission from Switzerland.

48 UNHCR, “Ensuring birth registration for the prevention of statelessness” (2017); and submission

from Plan International.

prevent them from obtaining nationality on an equal basis with children without disabilities,

must be eliminated.

62. General measures to expand the accessibility of birth registration also do so for

children with disabilities; for example, increasing the number and reach of registration

facilities, simplifying administrative procedures and prior documentary requirements,

ensuring provisions for late birth registration and eliminating fees and penalties associated

with birth registration, reaching families in rural areas and refugee camps through targeted

programmes such as mobile registration units, and using technology to digitize the civil

registration system. In monitoring birth registration results at the national level,

disaggregated data on birth registration rates is needed, including on the basis of disability.

D. Reaching indigenous and minority communities

63. Consistent with the principle of free, prior and informed consent, as enshrined in the

United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (art. 19), any reforms or

proposed changes to birth registration systems should be undertaken after proper

consultation with, and the participation of, indigenous communities and their representative

organizations. Any discriminatory laws and policies in this regard, including as an

unintended consequence, should be identified and addressed.

64. The particular barriers to birth registration faced by indigenous and minority

communities need to be assessed in each national context, and targeted measures need to be

taken to address them. Such measures could include provisions for late birth registration,

including of adults, simplified administrative processes, making relevant forms available in

indigenous and minority languages, eliminating discriminatory ethnic or religious data from

registration procedures, and foregoing documentation requirements such as parents’ birth

certificates where these are difficult or impossible to obtain. Witness statements or

testimonies could be accepted instead of prior documents where necessary to ensure birth

registration.

65. In Argentina, the Government is strengthening birth registration among indigenous

peoples through mobile registration, by removing barriers to access to birth registration and

by integrating registration with other services. Immediate, compulsory, efficient and free

procedures for registering the births of newborns are guaranteed by law for all children.

Recent rights-based legal provisions have supported late birth registration for children up to

12 years of age, particularly targeting indigenous persons who in many cases did not hold a

birth certificate or national identity document. This is supported by cooperation with the

education system, whereby the Federal Council for Children, Adolescents and Family

requested schools to report on the enrolment of unregistered children. The Government has

also rolled out mobile registration facilities in order to bring birth registration closer to

indigenous peoples and other hard-to-reach population groups.

66. In Serbia, birth registration is being expanded among the minority Roma community

through regulatory changes and a range of activities on the ground carried out in a

partnership between UNHCR, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-

Government and the Ombudsman’s Office. These include provisions for late registration

and targeted measures to overcome discrimination and reach marginalized children.

Following legal amendments, the right to birth registration now applies to all children,

regardless of the timing of the birth registration or parental status. The omission of

information on the ethnicity or national status of a child from the national register was

crucial to expanding registration among Roma children. In collaboration with partners,

child rights-based capacity-building for judges and relevant officials was conducted in

order to counter discrimination. Public awareness-raising campaigns promoting birth

registration were also implemented, and birth registration services were integrated with

health services. Special visits were made to informal settlements to register children,

through which communities were consulted on how birth registration could be further

supported.49

E. Preventing and addressing statelessness

67. Possession of a birth certificate is, in some countries, a requirement to establish a

child’s nationality or obtain further documentation proving nationality, such as national

passports or identity cards. In some countries, a birth certificate on its own is seen as proof

of nationality, especially where nationality is acquired automatically on the basis of birth in

the country. It is important to clarify, however, that registering a child’s birth usually does

not confer nationality, which is acquired through a State’s specific nationality law,

implemented through separate processes that are distinct from birth registration.

Nonetheless, as birth registration often serves as a crucial document and first step to prove a

child’s origins and links with a State, strengthening rates of and access to birth registration

is fundamental to preventing and addressing statelessness.

68. Ensuring access to birth registration, including for displaced peoples for whom a

birth certificate is an essential means of proving legal identity, is a political and policy

priority in Thailand. The country’s reform of the Civil Registration Act in 2008 ensured

that birth registration would not be limited to children of Thai nationals, and would be

provided as a right to all children regardless of their parents’ nationality and legal status.

This enabled members of stateless communities, such as “hill tribe” communities living in

remote areas, to register their children’s births. Multiple further measures to ensure birth

registration and grant nationality where applicable to prevent statelessness have been

implemented, including legal reform and related guidelines, developing an online

registration system linking hospitals with registration offices, building the capacity of local

registration officials, and awareness-raising through outreach to community networks. In

addition, provisions for late birth registration are in progress with the aim of addressing

statelessness.50

69. In Turkey, the children of non-nationals are entitled to birth registration and

residency rights in accordance with the residency rights of their parents, and by law are

provided, after their birth, with a residence permit relevant to their situation. Children who

are stateless are entitled to stay in Turkey legally if they are identified as stateless persons,

and any child born in Turkey who does not acquire citizenship at birth from his or her

parents is entitled to Turkish citizenship from the moment of birth. These legal and policy

provisions ensure that children born of parents living in Turkey as stateless persons are

registered as Turkish citizens, helping to prevent the transfer of statelessness across

generations.51

70. In Kenya, obstacles to birth registration, including high transport costs, poverty and

illiteracy, particularly affect communities in rural areas and in areas where stateless people

live, particularly in the counties of Kwale and Kilifi. In collaboration with UNHCR and

NGOs, the Government has decentralized birth registration through mobile birth

registration exercises and integrated implementation with community health services in

remote and hard-to-reach areas. These measures have extended birth registration to stateless

people living in previously unreached parts of the country.52

F. Ensuring continuity in conflict and humanitarian situations

71. Conflict and humanitarian situations are increasing globally, and a preventive

approach in which birth registration data is permanently and securely stored is essential.

Birth registration data or documentation often serves as a crucial form of proof of identity

49 Submission from Serbia; and UNHCR, “Ensuring birth registration for the prevention of

statelessness”.

50 Submission from Thailand.

51 Submission from Turkey.

52 UNHCR, “Ensuring birth registration for the prevention of statelessness”.

for refugees and displaced children at risk of statelessness, including, where relevant, to

facilitate their repatriation. Permanent storage of birth registration records safeguards

against the loss or destruction of birth certificates and related data that often occurs during

conflict and humanitarian situations. The digitization of civil registration systems and birth

registration data is important in order to achieve this.

72. Humanitarian organizations seeking to maintain birth registration may also rely on

mobile registration units to reach remote, conflict-affected areas or displaced populations,

alongside other approaches such as the integration of birth registration with the delivery of

emergency services at the local level.53 And yet, measures to maintain birth registration

once a conflict or other emergency has broken out tend to be temporary, and inadequately

integrated with core national civil registration systems, which are often disrupted in such

situations. It is crucial that emergency birth registration programmes be integrated in a

sustainable manner into national systems, even if it is only once the situation has begun to

stabilize.54

73. In Lebanon, UNHCR has raised awareness among Syrian refugees of the right to

and processes for accessing birth registration, in partnership with multiple actors.

Procedures have been implemented to ensure that data on children from refugee families

who are registered with UNHCR is updated with all new births occurring in Lebanon

among refugee families. Parents are advised on an individual basis by UNHCR staff about

processes for accessing birth registration, and those in situations of particular vulnerability

are referred to legal partners trained to assist them throughout the birth registration

process.55

74. Plan International carried out mass birth registration drives to support the issuance

of birth certificates for South Sudanese refugee children born in the country. As a result,

additional continuous birth registration services were established in certain health facilities

and refugee registration points, which benefited from the raised awareness about birth

registration that had been generated during its campaigns.56

G. Monitoring and data management

75. Ensuring that birth registration is integrated within comprehensive well-functioning

civil registration systems is fundamental to national planning, and to the design of policies

that take account of the situation of all children living within a country. There is an

important commitment to ensuring improved and disaggregated data in the 2030 Agenda

for Sustainable Development. Human rights principles and standards should be applied to

support this aim, and throughout processes of monitoring, data collection and data

management.

76. Any data that may be used to discriminate against a child should not be recorded on

their birth certificate or in civil registries, such as those pertaining to race, ethnicity,

religious beliefs or his or her parents’ marital status. Only the minimum information

necessary should be recorded, such as the child’s and parents’ names and address, the

child’s gender, and the date and place of birth. The father’s name and other details should

not be required, as this can lead to discrimination or prevent a child’s registration in certain

circumstances.

77. Birth registration and other civil registration data should be stored by governments

in a manner that is secure and permanent. The rights to privacy and access to information

must be consistently respected and upheld, and children’s personal data should be managed

in a manner in which it cannot be destroyed, is kept confidential by law, and can be easily

retrieved at any stage of their lives. Implementing digital birth registration and civil

53 Plan International, Birth Registration in Emergencies.

54 Ibid.

55 UNHCR, “Ensuring birth registration for the prevention of statelessness”.

56 Submission from Plan International.

registration systems is the most secure approach to protect children from the loss of their

data, particularly due to conflict or humanitarian crisis.

V. International and regional cooperation

78. International cooperation on birth registration will be critical to the realization of

this right for children in all countries, and to fulfilling the 2030 Agenda commitment to do

so under target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Technical cooperation and the

provision of development finance are essential to bolster resources at key moments of

progress, such as the digitization of civil registration systems, alongside cooperation in the

sharing of good practices between countries in similar circumstances. While each country is

unique and there can be no “one size fits all” approach, practices that have demonstrably

been effective in expanding children’s access to birth registration should be adapted to be

made relevant and replicable in different contexts.

79. A new set of global principles, the Principles on Identification for Sustainable

Development, have been developed, which are aimed at strengthening identification

systems and supporting the implementation of target 16.9, in the context of the World

Bank’s Identification for Development initiative. The Principles, the first of which is

“inclusion”, highlight the imperative of leaving no child behind and call for the

prioritization of programmes to strengthen civil registration and vital statistics in national

development plans.

80. Regional organizations are key to strengthening cooperation and the sharing of good

practices. A range of regional platforms and initiatives have been established to facilitate

cooperation in this respect, including the Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement

of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems, and the Regional Civil Registration and

Vital Statistics Steering Group for Asia and the Pacific, among others. The progress made

through these and other regional efforts shows that collaboration at this level is essential in

order to bring about peer-to-peer learning and support among governments.57

VI. Conclusions and recommendations

81. Millions of children are still being born without leaving a trace in civil

registration systems, and risk remaining invisible and uncounted by governments

throughout their lives. Providing birth registration and legal identity to all children

immediately they are born is a human right, and a crucial step towards protecting

them from violence, abuse, exploitation and other rights violations. Whether or not a

child is registered at birth has implications for realizing all rights throughout his or

her life.

82. Yet it is the children who are the most marginalized and living in vulnerable

situations who continue to miss out on birth registration, such as children living in

situations of conflict, poverty or emergency, children belonging to minority groups,

children with disabilities, indigenous children, and children of migrants, asylum

seekers, refugees and stateless persons. Achieving universal birth registration and

legal identity by 2030 means reaching these children effectively, and reaching them

first through targeted measures.

83. To this end, international and regional cooperation, as well as cooperation

between stakeholders at the national level, is crucial. A human rights approach should

be applied throughout the birth registration process, and in monitoring and the

management of data. While there is no “one size fits all” solution, certain practices

summarized in the present report have been effective and can be adapted and applied

to support the achievement of universal birth registration in all countries. In this

respect, States should:

57 Submission from Plan International; and UNHCR, “Ensuring birth registration for the prevention of

statelessness”.

(a) Take all measures necessary to ensure that all children are immediately

registered at birth and issued with birth certificates, irrespective of their migration

status or that of their parents;

(b) Identify and reform laws or policies which discriminate against children

and compromise the realization of their right to birth registration, including those

which may lead to discrimination as an unintended consequence, on the grounds of

the child’s or his or her parents’ gender, ethnicity or religion, language, migration

status, social origin, disability or birth out of wedlock;

(c) Remove legal and practical barriers to birth registration by raising

awareness of the associated rights and benefits; eliminating registration fees and fines

for late registration; ensuring procedures for late registration; removing

documentation requirements that are difficult or impossible to fulfil; ensuring that

registration documents are accessible, comprehensible and available in minority and

local languages; ensuring that only the minimum information is recorded on birth

certificates; prohibiting data sharing between health providers or civil servants

responsible for registration, and immigration enforcement authorities; and not

requiring parents to produce documentation regarding their migration status;

(d) Implement targeted programmes to reach children living in the most

remote and excluded circumstances, including by integrating the provision of birth

registration with the delivery of other essential services, particularly health services;

and utilizing mobile registration units, technology and other innovative solutions to

advance decentralized registration procedures;

(e) Ensure continuity of birth registration during and after situations of

conflict and humanitarian crisis, and prevent the loss of children’s personal data

through the permanent storage of birth registration and other civil registry data in

digitized registration systems.