Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life: The Right to Birth Registration Naira Avetisyan, UNICEF Ukraine

Overview The importance of the birth registration The situation in Europe and Central Asia The situation in Ukraine What can we all do? Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life UNICEF for every child

Birth Registration Birth registration is a child’s first right and represents the official recording of a child’s existence by the State, ensuring the rights to an identity, name and nationality. It is closely linked to a number of other social, economic and political rights. Through official recognition by the State, registration grants a child access to a range of opportunities and services, including education, health care, protection and participation. Birth registration is one function of civil registration systems, which establish the existence of a person for official, legal and statistical purposes and track a person’s family ties and major events, such as birth, marriage, divorce and death. An effective civil registration system is compulsory, universal and permanent, and ensures the quality and integrity of registration records and data through clear and consistent procedures and effective data collection and management. Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life: UNICEF for every child

Birth Registration Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), 1989 Article 7: ‘The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.’ European Convention on Nationality, 1997 ‘States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless.’ Barriers : 1. A lack of political will may be due to low awareness among governments and policymakers of the importance and value of birth registration as a human right or of its crucial role in modern society. Alternately, low political will for birth registration results in some countries from a specific disinterest in supporting the registration of low-status populations. Low political will is perhaps the greatest barrier to universal birth registration as it is a source of other barriers, including insufficient resource allocation, lack of legislation, weak enforcement of legislation, lack of concerted and coordinated efforts by concerned ministries and agencies, poor governance, inadequately trained/paid staff, ineffective or non-existent outreach and communication campaigns, and lack of efforts to make services accessible to the full population.. Far too many countries lack functioning civil registration systems due to the effects of war or internal conflict. In others where registration systems reach the majority of the population, administrative barriers created by complicated procedures, 2. Families with scarce resources may be deterred by both direct and opportunity costs associated with birth registration. Fees for registration and/or birth certificates are obvious disincentives, while the financial cost of travel to distant registration points can also reduce registration rates. Inaccessible registration systems can have high opportunity costs, i.e. time away from work and household responsibilities due to travel distance and lengthy, complicated registration procedures.

Birth Registration THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRTH REGISTRATION For the State Birth registration also provides the vital birth and population information that state authorities need to plan, implement and target programmes and policies more efficiently. Birth registration, therefore, plays an instrumental role in safeguarding human rights and contributing to a well-functioning society. THE IMPORTANCE OF BIRTH REGISTRATION For the State Effective birth registration systems facilitate: • Successful resource planning and allocation • Timely and appropriate provision of services • Continuous, permanent and legal statistical records For Parents and Caregivers Birth registration enables the granting of birth certificates, which permit parents to: • Avail of services for their children • Avail of state benefits for families with children For Children certificates, which confer to children: • Official recognition of existence by State • Identity and nationality, or information critical to determining nationality • Access to state rights and privileges: · Official papers: ID card, passport, drivers license · School enrolment · Essential health services · Employment · Travel · Official marriage · Political participation · Housing · Social services, including financial benefits • Protection (via proof of age, identity, nationality) from: · Early marriage · Child labour · Prosecution and incarceration as an adult · Premature enlistment in armed forces · Illegal abduction or trafficking Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life: UNICEF for every child

Birth registration is CRITICAL Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life UNICEF for every child

Birth Registration- regional update Most countries in the region of Europe and Central Asia have historically reported high rates of birth registration ranging from 90% and above, facilitated in part by the legacy of civil administration systems of the former Soviet Union. The relatively high average rates, reduce attention to continuing disparities and to the need for new, targeted approaches to reach long-excluded populations. Unfortunately, the stabilisation of registration rates overall builds false confidence in the situation of birth registration in the region. Following the trend of many other social variables in the region, rising national statistics in birth registration also appear to be concealing deepening disparities. The children comprising the last portions of the population not reached by national systems are becoming increasingly marginalised, further reducing possibilities for availing of birth registration, basic services and enjoying their rights to survival, growth and development. Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life: UNICEF for every child

Birth Registration- regional update Available data suggest that those excluded from birth registration systems are concentrated among in refugee/IDP/stateless/migrant populations, highly marginalised ethnic groups, the poor, and those in underserved regions. Countries in the region overwhelmingly hold laws providing for universal birth registration, but practical barriers prove impossible to some families and contribute to non-universal registration. Information for these groups is often of questionable reliability, and in some cases, lacking altogether. Unfortunately, information on precisely how the marginalised populations in each country experience these barriers is lacking. If birth registration represents the government’s official recognition of the existence and identity of a child, the birth certificate is the tangible evidence held by families of this recognition. Birth registration and the obtaining of a birth certificate are two distinct yet closely linked events Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life: UNICEF for every child

The situation in Ukraine -concerns A review of the 2016-2018 court records suggests that an estimated 43% of children reported to have been born in Donetsk and Luhansk NGCA have obtained a birth certificate issued by the Government of Ukraine. Without birth registration in Ukraine, these children are likely to face difficulties in accessing documentation required to prove their nationality. This will have long-term negative consequences for them, impacting on their ability to obtain a Ukrainian passport. Without it, they may not be able to travel abroad, study at university, register their marriage, and even register the birth of their own children. Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life: UNICEF for every child

What can we all do? ensure that the civil registration system is in line with national and international standards and is accessible to all within the territorial integrity of Ukraine, without discrimination of any kind, and free of charge. establish an administrative procedure for birth registration that is flexible and responsive to the circumstances of families living in NGCA, by simplifying the documentary requirements, offering registration services available close to the contact line, and disseminating information about the procedure.

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