Article 1 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) defines a child as being “every human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”. It is also recognised in this Convention, as it had been previously in the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, that “the child, by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection”. Humanity’s sociological advancement brought about the recognition of children’s rights as being distinctive from adults, showing due regard for the fact that childhood has proven itself to be an extremely vulnerable stage of development. However, the international and national safeguards in place to protect those who have not yet achieved their majority are only of use to children who can prove their age. This ability is taken for granted in western society, where birth registration procedures are well established and there is little effort needed on our part to obtain a birth certificate.

UNICEF’s 2002 Report, “Birth Registration Right from the Start’ stated that the main barrier to birth registration is that it is not universally perceived as a fundamental right, and, as a result, it is given low priority at every level”. This situation is surprising given the emphasis that birth registration receives in many international documents. UNICEF estimates that around 48 million children annually are not registered at birth. These children effectively have no legal name, no nationality or citizenship rights. The Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most comprehensive and ratified human rights treaty and despite the fact that only two countries have not ratified the Convention, 22 countries have proven unable to produce data on birth registration. There is clearly a huge gap between the duties states have agreed to perform in respect of children, and reality.

A child’s development and future employment opportunities are severely hindered without legitimate access to education and state examinations. Illegal labour practices are an undocumented child’s only future avenue. Individuals who lack identity documents have difficulty obtaining employment, inheriting property or doing anything that requires interaction with the state.

In the developing world, without a family, a child has very little hope of survival. A birth certificate says that a child belongs somewhere and that there are people who acknowledge their kinship with that child and have the responsibility of providing care for the minor. Today there is so much movement in the world. Developing countries are hit by disasters ranging from disease to displacement as a result of conflict. During times of natural disaster their chances of survival are minimal and tracing or identifying family members afterwards becomes impossible. Being outside the borders of one’s own country without proof of identity resigns a person to statelessness. A child’s right to life is not being respected when attempts to protect them are futile due to the fact that children are impossible to find in such situations as there is no way of tracing them.

It is clear that birth registration is fundamental both from a rights perspective and as an instrument for social and economic planning. It must be universal, free and compulsory. Not enough pressure is put on governments to implement efficient birth registration procedures. There are no sanctions or other formal enforcement mechanisms to ensure that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is implemented. Internationally, there are no clear guidelines on how to improve the level of birth registration. Clear laws and guidelines about how to work to get more children birth certificates need to be written.

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es them outside the protection of the state.