A/HRC/27/22 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted to the Human Rights Council pursuant to Council resolution 22/7, in which it requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to prepare a report, in consultation with States, United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, non-governmental organizations and other relevant stakeholders, on legal, administrative, economic, physical and any other barriers to access to universal birth registration and possession of documentary proof of birth, as well as on good practices adopted by States in fulfilling their obligation to ensure birth registration, and to submit it to the Council at its twenty-seventh session. 2. OHCHR received contributions from States, intergovernmental organizations, national human rights institutions, non-governmental organizations and academia.1 II. Birth registration: overview 3. Birth registration is a fundamental right, recognized by article 24, paragraph 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 7 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The fulfilment of the right to be registered at birth is closely linked to the realization of many other rights; socioeconomic rights, such as the right to health and the right to education, are at particular risk where birth registration is not systematically carried out, and the protection of children is jeopardized. 4. Birth registration is the continuous, permanent and universal recording within the civil registry of the occurrence and characteristics of birth, in accordance with the national legal requirements. It establishes the existence of a person under law, and lays the foundation for safeguarding civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.2 As such, it is a fundamental means of protecting the human rights of the individual. 5. On a procedural level, birth registration involves three interrelated processes. First, there must be the declaration of the occurrence of the birth to civil registrars. Second, once notified, civil registrars officially record the birth. Registration should include the individual’s name, date and place of birth, as well as, where possible, the name, age or date of birth, place of usual residence and nationality of both parents. Third, the State issues a birth certificate, a personal document to attest birth registration and the most visible evidence of the State’s legal recognition of the child. Whether this procedure is followed automatically after registration or requires another application depends on the country; it is vital, however, that this document is accessible easily and provided free of charge. 6. While the global rate of birth registration grew from approximately 58 to 65 per cent between 2000 and 2010, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 230 million children under the age of 5 still have not been registered.3 Non-registration is a particularly serious problem in developing countries, in sub-Saharan Africa, and in Asia; however, even in industrialized countries with high overall rates of birth registration, pockets of marginalized and disadvantaged groups who are not registered are often 1 2 3 See also: www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Children/BirthRegistration/Pages/ReportOnBirthRegistration.aspx. See www.unicef.org/protection/57929_58010.html. UNICEF, A Passport to Protection: A Guide to Birth Registration Programming, December 2013 (available from www.refworld.org/pdfid/52b2e2bd4.pdf), pp. 6 and 11. 3