BIRTH REGISTRATION: A BASIC RIGHT


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Executive Summary

The IACI has been involved in the issue of civil registration since 1964. From 1977 to 1990, the IACI developed a series of actions in the legal and statistical fields, such as training and promoting laws oriented to the improvement of civil registration and vital statistics.

Aware of the fact that birth registration constitutes a basic right for fulfilling, and monitoring the fulfillment of, the rest of the rights, and conscious of the fact that it must be approached jointly by Government and civil society, the IACI, PLAN International, UNICEF and other organizations and governments of the Region have been promoting actions aimed at the universalization of birth registration.

Because the act of registering a birth is a matter of human rights that transcends the purely administrative dimension, its coverage is determined at an important level by the fulfillment of the rights enshrined by the Convention. A child's right to a name and an identity, as well as the preservation of his or her identity, are established in Articles 7 and 8 of the Convention.

Without birth registration, there is no possibility to exercise any rights. Without the exercise and ability to demand rights, there is no possibility for the development of citizenship. Without full exercise of citizenship, we cannot think in terms of democracy. Birth registration is thus the foundation that permits the adoption of measures against trafficking of children, illegal adoptions, sexual exploitation, and sale of organs, among others.

Moreover, without adequate indicators, it is impossible to generate policies, programs and projects that allow us to combat those scourges that exclude millions of children, who in most cases remain unknown.

Article 7

1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality, and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents. 

2. States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless.

Article 8

1. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference.

2. Where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to speedily re-establishing his or her identity.

Convention on the Rights of the Child
  1. Background
    2.

    In absolute and relative terms, the problem of civil registration in Latin America and the Caribbean is noticeably smaller than it is in Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East.

    The IACI's analysis includes UNICEF data, government reports by the countries to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and this Committee's remarks with respect to Article 7, and shows that this problem is also significant in the Region. Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela have all received remarks from the Committee on the subject. Brazil and Haiti should also be added, because in those countries, the magnitude of the problem is acknowledged by the authorities. In the case of Brazil, the Brazilian Institute for Geography and History (IBGE) estimates that there are 25 million Brazilians without a birth certificate.

    In the Session addressing the Governmental Report by Colombia, it was stated that there are more than 5 million unregistered children in that country.

    The IACI has observed that, although registration is free of charge in the majority of the countries, there are many cases where the cost of obtaining the certificate is between one and 15 US dollars. Late registrations, generally after 15 days, can cost as much as triple the price of a certificate.

    Although registration formally appears as free of charge, in some cases it involves a series of hidden costs that become more serious when we take into account elements such as the place of birth (not necessarily in a hospital facility) and its distance from urban centers. Except in countries where there is a "culture of birth registration," generally it is not viewed as something that is necessary, especially in those countries with a low rate of schooling (given that the certificate is not a requirement for registration).

  2. Basic Criteria

We have found the need to address the issue of birth registration at three levels:

  1. Political level
  2. Technical level
  3. Local level: interaction between government and civil society
  1. At the political level, various Regional Political Fora have encouraged the need for birth registration to constitute a key element in the work of the Governments in the Region. As a result, we observe the following:
  • Declaration of the 2nd Ibero-American Conference of Ministers and High-level Officials on Child and Adolescent Affairs (Panama City, October 2000): 
    To universalize the registration of children immediately after birth, undertaking the legislative, administrative and other measures for the fulfillment of these purposes.
  • Declaration of Panama – 10th Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government (Panama City, November 2000):
    To ensure the exercise of children's right to be registered at birth and, as much as possible, the right to know and be cared for by their parents, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, promoting the adoption of legislative, administrative, or any other measures for the fulfillment of these purposes.
  • Plan of Action of the 3rd Summit of the Americas (Quebec City, April 2001):
    In order to protect and promote children's rights, develop and implement inter-sectoral policies and programs, which may include the promotion of civil registration of all children, and allocate appropriate resources to undertake these tasks.
  • Resolution of the Directing Council of the IACI (Montevideo, May 2001):
    Following the above-mentioned Political Fora and the IACI Strategic Plan 2000-2004, the Directing Council of the IACI resolved, through Resolution CD/RES. 09 (76-R/01), to give special encouragement to work in this field, to promote cultural, legal and administrative changes that will lead to the full effectiveness of the right to a name and an identity.
  1. At the technical level, after having analyzed the situation in the Region with respect to this issue, and the experiences of other regions, the IACI observed the need to change the way in which birth registration is approached, particularly in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean where under-registration has reached significant levels. It is necessary to complete the work of government offices that are legally responsible for civil registration – particularly birth registration – with the work of the civil society organization. We must create a net that enables us to catch children's births, with a view to the universalization of registration.

Through civil society, we attempt to enhance the role of civil registration offices, incorporating the concept of birth registration as part of a set of services that families will receive through organized civil society.

For the purposes of implementing from the technical point of view, birth registration should be:

    • Simple, meaning that a person's essential information should be registered, avoiding a priori barriers in the process (marital status, registration of parents or lack thereof, single-parent families).
    • Expeditious, favoring registration between the first and 14th day after birth, and avoiding any associated cost that could be a barrier to implementation.
    • Known to All, developing strong communicational strategies that use all of the media to inform the potentially affected population about the need to register, so that registration is perceived as an instrument that allows individuals to access all types of social services.

  1. At the local level, we should prioritize civil society participation. Given the geography of our countries, the difficulties of access, and the percentage of rural population, it is very important to generate strategies in which civil society participates. We must facilitate the process of birth registration, as it is part of a strategy of intervention in which the family receives a series of benefits that enhance the family environment and improve quality of life.

The application is this mechanism is not simple, because in the countries there is a coexistence of cultures and nationalities in which birth registration is not incorporated as such; however, this must not discourage the search for alternatives, since we are speaking of a fundamental right. The language barrier may be an additional problem to take into account when implementing these strategies.

  1. Strategy

Joint work between all of the actors involved is, without a doubt, the key element to guarantee success. Cooperation between the civil registration offices in the countries, international organizations, NGOs and civil society organizations will make up the foundation for the development of a strategy based on the concepts detailed above.

We intend to show birth registration as part of a policy that allows for overcoming extreme poverty, investing in the basic abilities of low-income families to improve their situation.

This involves supporting complementarity between the actions of all types of community-oriented programs to improve the living standard of families, and especially their children.

In an initial phase, the IACI and PLAN International will make a diagnosis to analyze the situation of birth registration in some of the Region's countries that have shown unfavorable indicators. Then, we will develop a strategy to promote, strengthen and improve birth registration, based on strong interaction between organized civil society, families, and Civil Registration Offices.