A/HRC/RES/34/15
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 lowfee 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
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