Millions of 'invisible children' gain access to services

Plan UK

Embargoed until 00.00 Monday November 16th 2009

Millions of 'invisible children' get access to vital services after global campaign

MORE than 40 million people across 32 countries, most of them children, can now access vital health and education services after being traced and issued with birth certificates, campaigners announced today.

International child rights organisation Plan says the successful efforts to register millions now gives many children access to a raft of benefits from life-saving medicine and health care, welfare support, schooling, voting and legal aid.

The five year campaign also helped to improve laws in 10 countries - enabling access to registration for an additional estimated 153 million people and ensuring birth certificates for generations to come, a new report reveals.

The report, 'Count Every Child' documents dramatic change in some countries over short periods of time. For example, in Cambodia around 7 million people (around 56 per cent of the population) picked up their birth certificates in only 10 months. And one area of Indonesia saw registration rates soar from only 3 per cent to 72 per cent in two years.

The Universal Birth Registration (UBR) campaign has given official recognition to many remote and marginalised groups - from 20,000 street children in Dhaka, Bangladesh to the Baka people of Cameroon who had never previously been officially registered. The report also reveals some remarkable stories of determination, including a woman from the Dominican Republic who walked 120km just to register her child.

Being registered also helps stop vulnerable children becoming victims of various forms of exploitation and abuse such as human trafficking, prostitution and being thrown into adult prisons, the report says.

And registration helps in repatriating children with families after natural disasters and armed conflict and reduces the number of children being forced to live as under-age brides or child soldiers.

"At a glance, it's just a piece of paper, but a birth certificate can be a passport to essential human rights," says Plan International CEO Nigel Chapman.

"Being unregistered can leave you more vulnerable, disenfranchised and stateless - 'invisible' in effect. But being able to prove one's identity and age opens up a wealth of opportunity - from sitting an examination and opening a bank account to inheriting land and casting your vote.

"Lack of birth registration is both a symptom and a cause of underdevelopment in some countries and prevents children's rights from being fulfilled," added Mr Chapman.

"It is in all our interests to have healthy, educated people in poorer countries who can exercise their democratic rights and get properly regulated work. In the right circumstances, registration can actually help people in their journey out of poverty."

Award winning actor and Plan's UBR Ambassador in India, Anil Kapoor says a birth certificate is a "powerful, vital document."

"I have met children from communities on the very margins of society - many of them are already in extremely vulnerable situations because they are homeless or estranged from their families...The lack of a birth certificate makes them invisible to government, and therefore unable to benefit from services that could improve their lives.

"Because of this campaign, I believe children will be better protected from all kinds of age-related discrimination, exploitation and abuse and I will continue to champion this cause until we achieve 100 per cent registration!" said the Slumdog Millionaire star.

Plan says that work to improve systems must continue and is urging global organisations to make UBR a reality. It wants national governments to make registration free and accessible and to register children as soon after birth as possible.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who helped launch the campaign in 2005 said: "It is the key that opens the door to the rights and benefits of citizenship.

"Universal birth registration is impossible to ignore and entirely possible to achieve, if countries have the political will to make it happen."

ENDS

Notes

* The report 'Count Every Child' will be launched and discussed at a major international one-day conference at the Victory Services Club, London on Monday November 16 2009.