Progress and challenges for birth registration and delivery of birth certificates
Since January 1, 2022, new parents will be able to register their child’s birth for free, confirmed the Togolese Council of Ministers in the beginning of the month. This new bill aims to “ensure the systematic registration of births in civil status centers all over the country and to improve citizens’ social protection”. The government also thinks that this new measure will boost inclusion and social harmony, in line with its development roadmap. CHIP welcomes this measures, which will allow universal birth registration to protect all children’s right to identity in Togo.
Such policy changes are equally needed in the Asia Pacific region as pointed out by UNICEF end 2021. Out of the 167 million unregistered children worldwide, around 65 million of them live in Asia and the Pacific. According to this profile, based on figures available between 2010 and 2020, the number of children under 5 whose birth is not registered are the following: 51 million in South and South-West Asia, 9 million in South-East Asia, 4 million in East and North-East Asia, 1 million in Pacific, 100’000 in North and Central Asia. 97 million children in the region under 5 do not have a birth certificate and lack proof of their identity: 83 million in South and South-West Asia, 13 million in South-East Asia, 1 million in Pacific, 200’000 in North and Central Asia, 54’000 in East and North-East Asia. UNICEF mentions that even if advances in birth registration have reached some of the poorest children (high levels of birth registration have been achieved in countries with low per capita income), the total number of unregistered children in the region could still be 18 million by 2024 and 3 million by 2030. For CHIP, these new figures show that urgent measures should be taken to improve birth registration in this region to protect the rights to identity of the most vulnerable children.
Source: https://www.togofirst.com/en/social/1512-9142-in-togo-getting-birth-certificates-will-be-free-starting-from-january-1-2022 and https://www.unicef.org/eap/reports/statistical-profile-birth-registration
