RES/19/9 Birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law

GE.12-12741

Human Rights Council Nineteenth session

Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,

political, economic, social and cultural rights,

including the right to development

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council*

19/9

Birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere

as a person before the law

The Human Rights Council,

Guided by the purposes and principles contained in the Charter of the United Nations,

Recalling General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006, in which the Assembly established the Human Rights Council,

Reaffirming the human right of everyone to be recognized everywhere as a person before the law, which is enshrined in, inter alia, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other relevant international instruments,

Recalling the obligation of States to register all children immediately after birth as provided for in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other relevant international instruments,

Recalling also resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council in which they called upon States to ensure the registration of all children immediately after birth, the most recent being Assembly resolution 65/197 of 21 December 2010 and Council resolution 16/12 of 24 March 2011,

Recognizing the importance of birth registration, including late birth registration, as a means for providing an official record of the existence of a person and the recognition of that individual as a person before the law; expressing concern that unregistered individuals have limited or no access to services and enjoyment of all the rights to which they are entitled; also taking into consideration that persons without birth registration may be

* The resolutions and decisions adopted by the Human Rights Council will be contained in the report of

the Council on its nineteenth session (A/HRC/19/2), chap. I.

vulnerable to statelessness and associated lack of protection; and aware that registering a person’s birth is a vital step towards his or her protection,

Recognizing also the importance of birth registration, including late birth registration, for the development of vital statistics and the effective implementation of programmes and policies intended to achieve internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals,

1. Expresses concern at the high number of persons throughout the world whose birth is not registered;

2. Reminds States of their obligation to undertake birth registration without discrimination of any kind;

3. Calls upon States to establish or strengthen existing governmental institutions responsible for birth registration and the preservation and security of such records, and to ensure they have sufficient resources to fulfil their mandate;

4. Also calls upon States to ensure free birth registration, including free or low- fee late birth registration, by means of universal, accessible, simple, expeditious and effective registration procedures without discrimination of any kind;

5. Further calls upon States to continuously raise awareness at the national and local levels of birth registration, including by engagement in public campaigns that raise awareness of the importance of birth registration for effective access to services and the enjoyment of all rights;

6. Urges States to identify and remove physical, administrative and any other barriers that impede access to birth registration, including late birth registration, paying due attention to, among others, those barriers relating to poverty, disability, multicultural contexts and persons in vulnerable situations;

7. Encourages States to request technical assistance, if required, from relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes, including the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Population Fund, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Health Organization, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the United Nations Development Programme, and other relevant stakeholders in order to fulfil their obligation to undertake birth registration as a means to respect the right of everyone to be recognized everywhere as a person before the law;

8. Invites the above-mentioned United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes and other relevant stakeholders to cooperate with States in providing technical assistance, upon request;

9. Decides to consider this issue in accordance with its annual programme of work.

53rd meeting

22 March 2012

[Adopted without a vote.]