Universal Birth Registration
In Cambodia alone, Plan has helped more than 10,000,000 children to get an official identity.
Plan has worked on birth registration initiatives in Asia since 1998, helping millions of children to gain an official identity.
An unregistered child is an invisible child in many respects. Without proof of age or identity, children are not granted their civil rights or access to essential social services, such education and health care.
Our approach to establishing universal birth registration is rights-based, and includes research into existing civil registration systems, awareness raising, capacity building, and birth registration activities.
Reaching minorities
In 2002, Plan's birth registration campaigns in Asia scaled up significantly with its involvement in a massive civil registration exercise in Cambodia. The programme involved reaching and registering minority groups living in remote communities using mobile registration units, drafting up-to-date legislation on civil registration, and running community education activities, amongst many initiatives.
The Asian tsunami of 2004 highlighted the importance of civil registration in times of disaster. With the loss of thousands of lives, a significant number of tsunami survivors lost all their vital registration documents.
Plan directly contacted affected families, coordinated with government departments and provided sound legal advice, initiatives by which the replacement of documents was expedited without overburdening affected persons.
Child participation
Children's participation in the Universal Birth Registration programmes of Asia has been integral in achieving the successful outcomes it has. Children have acted in national and provincial workshops to produce detailed implementation plans for campaigns, alongside parents and local government officials.
Plan's birth registration activities continue to gain momentum throughout Asia, chalking up tens of millions of new registrations.
Achievements
Today, as a result of Plan's advocacy in collaboration with other non-governmental organisations and Unicef, the children of Asia are:
- less likely to be permanently separated from families and communities or married early
- young offenders are less likely to be subject to adult standards of justice
- cases of child abuse are more easily identified
- selective abortion of female foetuses is more visible
- prevention and prosecution of child trafficking offences is more easily accomplished.
Read more about our work in Universal Birth Registration (PDF, 109 KB, 2 pages)
