A/HRC/30/42 IV. Institutional interventions A. Basic preconditions 1. Security for all 38. Much reflection about redressing rights violations simply makes assumptions about what is missing in the majority of the cases at hand, namely, functional State institutions. In their original intent, human rights instruments were d esigned to address — and in fact to redress and correct — abuses of State power. A great deal of abuses, however, today takes place in areas of limited governance and by non -State actors. Moreover, it should be highlighted that it is usually the most margi nalized who bear the brunt of the violations; the better-off have always more exit options and can translate economic power into some degree of security. Non -recurrence policies need to pay attention to the provision of effective security for all in full compliance with all relevant rights-related standards including equality and fairness. 2. Legal identity 39. Proof of legal identity is crucial for the exercise of rights and for gaining access to State services. It is generally a precondition for, inter alia, participating in most administrative and judicial proceedings, including those related to the violation of fundamental rights; settling questions relating to civil status; voting or standing for election and being appointed to office; obtaining a na tionality and a passport; gaining access to social security or other forms of State support; taking part in commercial transactions, including entering contracts; opening bank accounts; and acquiring a title to property. 40. International and regional human rights law recognize the right to legal identity 17 in time of peace and conflict. According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), approximately one third of all children under five worldwide have never been registered. 18 Statelessness, which affects more than 10 million people, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), compounds the problem. 19 Conflict negatively affects legal identity through: (a) the absence or weakening of State presence and servic es; (b) migration and displacement, often involving the loss of documents and the impossibility of obtaining new ones; (c) fear and intimidation, for example, children being relocated and forcibly conscripted; and (d) the deliberate destruction of registries, as has happened during conflicts at least in Guatemala, Peru, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Timor-Leste. In Cambodia, during the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s, all documents relevant to civil status were destroyed. In Sierra Leone, where thousands of children were abducted and forced to fight during the 10-year conflict, many had 17 18 19 10 See International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, art. 24; Convention on the Rights of the Child, arts. 7 and 8; International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, art.25; African Charter, art. 6; and American Convention on Human Rights, arts. 3 and 18. See UNICEF, “Every Child’s Birth Right: inequalities and trends in birth registration” (New York, 2013), available from www.unicef.org/media/files/Embargoed_11_Dec_Birth_Registration _report_low_res.pdf. See UNHCR, 2013 Statistical Yearbook (Geneva, 2013), available from www.unhcr.org/54cf99f29.html.