A/HRC/27/22 better education, and towards urban populations (as those who are overrepresented among those who are registered).43 41. Birth registration can also serve as the backbone of an electronic administration system, thus help to improve monitoring, planning and service delivery across a wide range of governmental services.44 Its importance for the State indeed cannot be underestimated, and the advantages of this will trickle down to individuals. 42. In addition, birth registration plays a key role in fostering democratic processes, as it is a vital link in establishing nationality, and thus conferring on the individual the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. The provision of a free and universal legal identity through birth registration was highlighted as a crucial element of ensuring good governance and effective institutions by the High-level Panel Secretary-General’s of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda. The Panel considered that providing citizens with a legal identity is one of the most basic institutional responsibilities of a Government, which requires universal birth registration.45 43. Given that electoral roles are often compiled from the civil register, the transparency and credibility of voting and the prevention of electoral fraud depend on accurate data on births and deaths.46 Registration goes beyond the right to vote, however, and extends to the possibility of standing for electoral office and of taking an active role in political life. VI. Implementation challenges A. Political and legal challenges 44. Birth registration thus has both legal and statistical functions for States and individuals. Many countries, however, are yet to recognize this dual role and the intrinsic links between a functioning civil registration system and social and economic development, day-to-day governance and human rights.47 45. In many circumstances, civil registration laws have not been revised for many years, and outdated laws and procedures inherited from the past are still in place. The rationales and objectives of registration laws therefore do not always reflect social and cultural realities of the country.48 46. Another difficulty lies in the way in which civil registration has been previously used as a source of information to manage the population, an instrument to control the free movement of citizens. Similarly, in areas where there has been ethnic conflict, civil records have at times been used to engage in persecution. These historical circumstances may affect the willingness of parents to interact with official institutions and therefore to register their children. 43 44 45 46 47 48 UNICEF, A Passport to Protection (see footnote 3), p. 24. Mariana Muzzi, “UNICEF Good Practices” (see footnote 41), p. iv. High-level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development, 2013, p. 50. UNICEF, Birth Registration (see footnote 34), p. 7. Economic Commission for Africa, Reforming and Improving Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems in Africa (E/ECA/CMRCR/2/EXP/4), para. 18. UNICEF, A Passport to Protection (see footnote 3), p. 36. 11