Governments and civil society commit to eliminate under-registration by 2015 in Latin America
Organised by Plan alongside other international agencies, the 2nd Regional Conference of Latin America and the Caribbean on the Right to an Identity and Universal Birth Registration took place this September in Panama. 250 representatives of governments, civil society and cooperation organisations from 26 countries committed to eliminate birth under-registration by 2015.
In recent years there has been important progress in the region in terms of birth registration, declining from an under-registration rate of 18% among children under 5 in 2006 to a current rate of 10%.
Children from most marginalised communities are most likely to be unregistered
However, there still are countries with disturbing under-registration figures. According to the Inter-American Development Bank, there are 6.5 million children without birth certificates in the region.
Roland Angerer, Regional Director of Plan International for Latin America said: “The barriers facing the last 10% will not be so easy to overcome, especially because these barriers are related to the dynamics of discrimination and exclusion. That’s why all the strategies that we may propose in these days for addressing the problem will have to begin with two basic human rights principles: the universal scope of human rights, and non-discrimination in their application”.
Children from the poorest and most marginalised segments of the population are indeed less likely to be registered. According to UNICEF, they are indigenous, Afro-descendant, children of migrants, single mothers or poor families living in rural and remote areas.
Main barriers to universal birth registration are geographic location, with families living in rural areas often lacking access to registration services; lack of budgets for civil registries; parents’ lack of identity documents; civil registries that are insensitive to the cultures of indigenous populations or the migratory status of children or their parents; and the lack of information or awareness of the importance of civil registration among the general population.
Commitment to eliminate under-registration in the region
Recommendations from participants included the elimination of all discrimination, in particular in national legislations, better coordination between civil registries and delivery of social services, simplification of administration procedures and training of civil officials. Governments also committed to make financial resources available to ensure universal birth registration.
States have understood that without a functioning civil registry, they lack information and vital statistics on their population to design adequate programmes and public policies for poverty reduction.
