A/HRC/RES/34/15
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, nonnationals, 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
2
See A/HRC/33/22.