A/HRC/39/30 A. Child trafficking, sale of children and child labour 14. The legal invisibility of unregistered children makes them more vulnerable to trafficking, sale, child labour and illegal adoption. This is exacerbated by the fact that cases of a child’s disappearance or exploitation are more easily hidden from authorities when the child does not legally exist in national registers. Migrant children without birth registration or a birth certificate are especially vulnerable to exploitation and abuse, particularly if they are in an irregular situation. In such a context, they may come into contact with illicit intermediaries who are involved in these forms of exploitation. 15. Birth registration is a crucial step in protecting children from child labour, as it provides an essential means of proving their age when it is below the minimum age of employment. It is important in this respect to consider, however, that falsified birth certificates are used in some cases to indicate an inaccurate age of a child. In order to prevent child labour effectively, minimum ages for employment in line with international human rights and employment standards must be monitored and enforced. Birth registration also serves to protect children in conflict with the law by supporting the right to neither be prosecuted as adults, nor detained with adults, 12 and is a crucial element in combating child marriage, including by supporting the enforcement of laws prohibiting this violation of children’s rights. B. Children born into poverty and exclusion 16. The barriers to accessing birth registration can be insurmountable for children born into poverty, who may live in rural areas without affordable access to transport, in households with very low incomes and literacy levels, and whose parents often have limited awareness of their rights and how to claim them. In many countries, birth registration processes are overly complex and time-consuming, with multiple steps before a birth certificate is issued, fees for registration, and fines or penalties for late registration. The costs involved and time required for transport to registration offices can be prohibitive for families who are struggling to survive. 17. In some countries, birth registration is contingent on the provision of prior documentation, such as parents’ birth or marriage certificates, or their residence permits, which for families living in poverty or in remote areas may be difficult or impossible to obtain. A lack of awareness about procedures, and about the rights and benefits associated with birth registration, and a lack of information on birth registration in local and minority languages, exacerbates these obstacles for the poorest families.13 C. Gender discrimination 18. Discriminatory laws and practices have adverse effects on birth registration rates. Registration may be prevented due to discrimination on the grounds of a child’s or his or her parent’s gender, ethnicity, race or religion, or on other grounds. Gender discrimination is a serious barrier to registration in countries where only men are legally allowed to register a child, or where both the mother, together with the father or another male relative, must be present in order to do so. Such laws discriminate against the mother, and prevent the registration of children who are born as a result of rape or out of wedlock. Mothers may also be reluctant to approach authorities in contexts where births out of wedlock are highly stigmatized. Children from non-traditional family arrangements also risk not being registered due to discrimination, such as those born to sex workers or same-sex couples, among others.14 12 13 14 See arts. 37 and 40 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Submission from ATD Fourth World. See A/HRC/23/50, para. 86. 5