Statement: Health Metrics Network/World Health Organization welcome birth registration resolution of UN Human Right Council
23 March 2012

The Health Metrics Network (HMN) and WHO welcome adoption by the United Nations Human Rights Council of a resolution on birth registration. The resolution, entitled “Birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law”, seeks action for universal registration at birth of all individuals, in order to reduce the high number of individuals throughout the world who are not registered and may never be registered during their lifetime. HMN and WHO participated in consultations on the draft resolution and provided technical input.

WHO estimates that 40 million, or approximately one third of, births are not registered each year. Dr Flavia Bustreo, WHO Assistant Director-General for Family, Women’s and Children’s Health, commented, “Lack of birth registration not only impacts the enjoyment of rights to which all persons are entitled, but may also hinder access to a range of essential services, including health care. Moreover, without data on births, national governments will not have credible evidence as a basis for planning, implementing and monitoring public health policies and programmes, and the global community will have less facility in reaching internationally-agreed development goals. The Council’s resolution is therefore important and timely, and will provide further incentive for countries to ensure birth registration for all children.”
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2012/HMN_birth_registration/en/index.html

UN HRC: Action on Resolution on Birth Registration and the Right of Everyone to Recognition Everywhere as a Person Before the Law
“In a resolution (A/HRC/19/L.24) regarding birth registration and the right to everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law, adopted without a vote, the Council expresses:

– concern at the high number of persons throughout the world whose birth is not registered;

– 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;

– 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;

– urges States to identify and remove physical, administrative 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, multicultural contexts and persons in vulnerable situations; and

– encourages States to request technical assistance, if required, from relevant United Nations bodies, agencies, funds and programmes 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.

“Mexico, introducing draft resolution L.24, said the right of all individuals to recognition as a person before the law, which was enshrined in a significant number of international instruments, was a fundamental right. Its importance was reflected in the prohibition of its derogation as per article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. One of the most effective ways of doing this was birth registration, which involved the official recognition of the existence of a human being and promoted a culture of effective protection. Worldwide, 51 million children were not registered every year. Birth registration was important for building effective statistics, which engendered the deployment of effective development programmes and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.

The resolution document is available here: http://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?Open&DS=A/HRC/19/L.24&Lang=E

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=12004&LangID=E