Briefing to the CRC on the Status of Progress on Birth Registration and Child Identity : Shared by Niloufar Pourzand

Advancing Every Child’s Right to Identity

Mia Dambach Iris Amaldi
Executive Director Child Identity Protection

On 28 January, I briefed the Committee on the Rights of the Child members on the child’s right to identity, with particular focus on birth registration.

We are now just 59 months and 3 days away from the 2030 target for SDG 16.9. At this stage, progress must be measured in months and days, not in years. Despite COVID-19 disruptions, more than 500 million U5 children were registered between 2019 and 2024. 

Yet more than 200 million children still lack proof of legal identity: 150 million are unregistered, and 55 million are registered without a birth certificate. Every day, 362,000 children are born. Of these, 101,000 remain unregistered, and 44,000 do not receive birth certificates. 

Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 90 million unregistered U5 children (60%), and South-East Asia accounts for 42 million (28%). Ten countries alone account for 67 percent of all unregistered children: Ethiopia, Pakistan, Nigeria, India, the DRC, Bangladesh, Uganda, Angola, Yemen, and Indonesia. Emerging challenges: 

Digitalization is essential, but without simplified business processes and aligned legal mandates, it can widen the digital divide. In several countries, requiring national IDs to access services, including birth registration, unintentionally excludes young mothers who do not yet have an ID. A digital identity is only a digital expression of legal identity. 

When the legal identity foundation is weak or incomplete, the digital layer can deepen exclusion and increase risks such as identity theft. Weak integration between CRVS and national ID systems creates gaps for both systems and limits the functioning of the broader identity ecosystem. In several countries, NID systems have emerged without linkage to CRVS systems, and these countries are struggling to keep their NID databases up to date. 

Structural barriers: 

* Discriminatory laws that prevent mothers from being declarants De facto discrimination - good laws that are not enforced in practice Regressive prerequisites, such as marriage certificates or proof of citizenship * Compulsory parental ID where coverage is incomplete 

*Conflation of birth registration with citizenship 

* Punitive use of CRVS data Systems that overlook refugees, IDPs, and stateless families CRVS systems that lack resilience to climate-related disasters 

Recommendations: R1: Reaffirm that every newborn must be registered immediately after birth, without exception - essential for universality, inclusion, and reducing late or delayed registration. R2: Encourage States to adopt non-discriminatory and inclusive CRVS laws and policies; implement a one-stop, fee-free registration and certification process; leverage platforms such as health services and frontline workers; and invest in safe, innovative, cost-effective digital systems that do not leave anyone behind. Mia Dambach Iris Amaldi