RES/34/15 Birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law

GE.17-05889(E)



Human Rights Council Thirty-fourth session

27 February–24 March 2017

Agenda item 3

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 24 March 2017

34/15. 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 of the Charter of the United Nations,

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 the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and

recalling the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the

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

Members of Their Families, the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and other

relevant international instruments,

Recalling the obligation of States to register all children, without discrimination of

any kind, immediately after birth, which is an important element of the protection and

realization of all human rights, as provided for in the International Covenant on Civil and

Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Convention on

the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and

other relevant international instruments to which they are party,

Recognizing that birth registration and the right to recognition everywhere as a

person before the law is closely linked to the realization of all other human rights, and

therefore underlining the importance of a human rights-based approach to birth registration,

based on international human rights obligations and commitments operationally directed to

promoting and protecting human rights,

Welcoming the commitment of States to leave no one behind, and recalling that the

provision of legal identity for all, including birth registration, is included as the standalone

target 16.9 in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development under Sustainable

Development Goal 16,

Recognizing that the full implementation of this target will have both a direct and an

indirect impact on the achievement of other targets and goals, inter alia social protection,

protection in emergencies, access to financial and economic resources, the elimination of

all forms of discrimination and violence against women and children everywhere, and

access to quality education,

Welcoming the continuing efforts of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and

other treaty-based bodies towards universal birth registration, such as through

recommendations widely addressed to States in this regard,

Recalling the resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and the Human Rights

Council in which they call upon States to ensure the registration of all children immediately

after birth, and without discrimination of any kind, the most recent being Assembly

resolution 71/177 of 19 December 2016 and Council resolution 28/13 of 23 March 2015,

Recognizing the importance of birth registration, including late birth registration and

provision of documents of proof of birth, as a means of providing an official record of the

existence of a person and the recognition of that individual as a person before the law, and

as a critical means of preventing statelessness,

Welcoming the 10-year “I Belong” campaign of the Office of the United Nations

High Commissioner for Refugees, which is aimed at ending the legal limbo of statelessness

that affects millions of people around the world,

Expressing concern that unregistered individuals may have limited or no access to

services and the enjoyment of all the rights to which they are entitled, including the rights

to a name and to acquire a nationality, and rights related to health, education, social

welfare, work and political participation, and taking into consideration that registering a

person’s birth is a vital step towards the promotion and protection of all his or her human

rights, and that persons without birth registration are more vulnerable to marginalization,

exclusion, discrimination, violence, statelessness, abduction, sale, exploitation and abuse,

including when they take the form of child labour, human trafficking, child, early and

forced marriage, and unlawful child recruitment,

Recognizing that free birth registration and free or low-fee late birth registration are

part of a comprehensive civil registration system that facilitates the development of vital

statistics and the effective planning and implementation of programmes and policies

intended to promote better governance and to achieve internationally agreed development

goals,

Recognizing also that non-governmental organizations, professional associations,

the media, the private sector and other members of civil society, including those involved in

public-private partnerships, can also contribute to the improvement and promotion of

community awareness of birth registration in a manner that reflects national priorities and

strategies,

1. Expresses deep concern at the fact that, , despite ongoing efforts to increase

the global rate of birth registration, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund nearly

one quarter of births of the global population of children under 5 have never been

registered;1

2. Reminds States of their obligation to register all births without discrimination

of any kind, and also reminds States that birth registration should take place immediately

after birth, in the country where children are born, including the children of migrants, non-

nationals, asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons, in accordance with their national

law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments, and that late birth

1 See A/HRC/33/22.

registration should be limited to those cases that would otherwise result in a lack of

registration;

3. Reaffirms that the provision of legal identity for all, including birth

registration by 2030, can contribute to prevent, inter alia, marginalization, exclusion,

discrimination, violence, statelessness, abduction, sale, exploitation and abuse, including

when it takes the form of child labour, human trafficking, child, early and forced marriage,

and unlawful child recruitment;

4. Takes note with appreciation of the report of the Office of the United Nations

High Commissioner for Human Rights on strengthening policies and programmes for

universal birth registration and vital statistics development,1 which refers to the

international legal framework related to birth registration, the progress and challenges

towards the universality of this right, and existing policies and programmes aimed at

universal birth registration and vital statistics development;

5. Calls upon States to establish or strengthen existing institutions at all levels

responsible for birth registration and to consider the development of comprehensive civil

registration systems, and the preservation and security of such records, to ensure adequate

training for registration officers, to allocate sufficient and adequate human, technical and

financial resources to fulfil their mandate, and to increase, as needed, the accessibility of

birth registration facilities within its territory and, in accordance with relevant international

law, abroad, either by increasing the number or through other means, such as mobile birth

registration officials in rural areas, paying attention to the local community level,

promoting community awareness and working to address the barriers faced by vulnerable

groups, such as persons with disabilities, in their access to birth registration;

6. Also calls upon States to take all appropriate measures to permanently store

and protect civil registration records and to prevent the loss or destruction of records, inter

alia, due to emergency or armed conflict situations, including through the use of digital and

new technologies as means to facilitate and universalize access to birth registration, and

also to strengthen civil registration and vital statistics, which are key for the collection of

disaggregated data for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals;

7. Further calls upon States to assess the potential risk to privacy and to take

steps to protect individuals from discrimination and harm when determining the

information included in a birth certificate, particularly details concerning origin, race,

ethnicity, religion and parents’ marital status, and to consider reflecting on birth certificates

only minimum information, such as the child’s name, gender, date and place of birth, and

when available, parents’ names, citizenship and addresses;

8. Calls upon States to protect personal information obtained through birth

registration or other civil registration processes that may be used to discriminate against an

individual;

9. 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;

10. Further calls upon States to raise awareness of birth registration continuously

at the national, regional and local levels, including by engagement in collaboration with all

relevant actors, such as national human rights institutions, the public and private sectors and

civil society organizations, in public campaigns that raise awareness of the importance of

birth registration for effective access to services and the enjoyment of human rights;

11. Calls upon States to ensure that lack of birth registration or documents of

proof of birth does not constitute an obstacle to access to and the enjoyment of relevant

national services and programmes, in accordance with national and international human

rights law;

12. Urges States to identify and remove physical, administrative, procedural and

any other barriers that impede access to birth registration, including late registration, paying

due attention to, among others, those barriers relating to poverty, disability, gender, age,

adoption processes, nationality, statelessness, displacement, illiteracy and detention

contexts, and to persons in vulnerable situations;

13. Invites States and other relevant stakeholders to work towards ensuring

universal birth registration through, inter alia, the exchange of good practices and technical

assistance, including through the universal periodic review and other relevant mechanisms

of the Human Rights Council;

14. Encourages States to request technical assistance, if required, from relevant

United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes and other relevant stakeholders in

order to fulfil their obligation to undertake birth registration as a means of respecting the

right of everyone to be recognized everywhere as a person before the law;

15. Takes note of the Principles on Identification for Sustainable Development,

which aim to strengthen identification systems and to foster cooperation around the

implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, and invites States and other actors

to consider endorsing them;

16. Invites relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes and other

relevant stakeholders to cooperate with States in providing technical assistance, upon

request, and calls upon them to ensure that persons with no birth registration are not

discriminated against in any of their programmes;

17. Recognizes the importance of international cooperation in supporting national

efforts to ensure universal birth registration, including the exchange of good practices and

technical assistance;

18. Requests the High Commissioner to identify and actively pursue

opportunities to collaborate with the United Nations Statistics Division and other relevant

United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, as well as other relevant stakeholders, in

order to strengthen existing policies and programmes aimed at universal birth registration

and vital statistics development, and to ensure that they are based on international

standards, taking into account best practices, and are implemented in accordance with

relevant international human rights obligations;

19. Also requests the High Commissioner to prepare, in consultation with States,

United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, civil society and other relevant

stakeholders, 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 and 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;

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

work.

57th meeting

24 March 2017

[Adopted without a vote.]