Universal Birth Registration
Child Protection International has been exploring the use of birth registration as a deterrent to child abductions and a necessary tool to finding children who have been taken. CPI has been developing a child id kit that can easily used to document children in Southern Sudan. The kit will be distributed to families to keep as their own personal record due to the lack of infrastructure and resources to keep such documents in a central location.
Background
Birth registration requires the registration of a child’s name, age, fingerprints and parentage. A child has a right to all of these things under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF reports that there are around 51 million unregistered births around the world each year (UNICEF). CPI is a strong advocate for registration because “birth registration is the first point of contact between the child and the state. It is the first and fundamental right in and of itself. And it is the door to other rights, providing a measure of protection against age-related exploitation and abuse” (African Child Forum).
Birth registration is the fundamental realization of other human rights. It provides and monitors access to health care and immunizations. It ensures that children are enrolled in school and provides a legal framework for the protection of children from forced labor, forced marriage, and military conscription. A record of a child’s birth also aids in reparation and family union for children who have been the victims of abduction and trafficking. Birth registration is essential to the upholding the rights of all children.
For more information about birth registration and its use to deter child abductions please reference the Resource Library.