1.4 International legal framework Every child has the right under international law to be registered at birth, as States have a duty to register all births that occur in their territory. This obligation on States is established by widely ratified international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.10 Both require States to proceed with registration immediately after birth and without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child’s legal status or that of the parents.11 The right to be registered at birth is also affirmed in the Migrant Workers Convention, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,12 and in regional human rights instruments.13 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the right of every individual to recognition as a person before the law, which is linked to legal identity and established, inter alia, through registration of birth.14 Birth registration is also essential to the implementation of safeguards for children who would otherwise be stateless, including the safeguards contained in the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.15 The principles of equality and non-discrimination are central to the implementation of universal birth registration because children who are vulnerable and marginalized are also more likely to be unregistered.16 The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has formulated simple birth registration standards for securing the registration of all children: a universal, well-managed registration system that is accessible to all and free of charge.17 These standards have been confirmed by regional treaty bodies, such as the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.18 The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has also emphasized the ‘importance of facilitating late registration of birth and ensuring that children who have not been registered have equal access to health care, protection, education and other social services’.19 In its Conclusion on civil registration, UNHCR’s Executive Committee has also called on States ‘to ensure free birth registration, including free or low-fee late birth registration, by means of universal, accessible, simple, expeditious and effective registration procedures, without discrimination of any kind’.20 Numerous resolutions and reports of the UN Human Rights Council stress the importance of universal and accessible birth registration and its critical role in preventing statelessness.21 The most recent resolution on 10 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 24(2); Convention on the Rights of the Child, Article 7(1). See also, UN Human Rights Committee, CCPR General Comment No. 17: Article 24 (Rights of the Child), 7 April 1989, para. 7, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/45139b464. html; and UNHCR, Conclusion on civil registration No. 111 (LXIV)-2013 (17 October 2013), at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/525f8ba64.html. 11 UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment 17 on Article 24 (Rights of the Child), 7 April 1989, paras. 7-8, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/45139b464.html. 12 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, Article 29; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Article 18(2). 13 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, Article 6(2); Covenant on the Right of the Child in Islam, Article 7(1). 14 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 6. 15 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, Articles 1-4. Article 7(2) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child also requires State parties to ensure the implementation of a child’s right to birth registration and to a nationality, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless. See also UNHCR, Guidelines on Statelessness No. 4: Ensuring Every Child’s Right to Acquire a Nationality through Articles 1-4 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (21 December 2012), HCR/GS/12/04, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/50d460c72.html. 16 Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Strengthening policies and programmes for universal birth registration and vital statistics development, A/HRC/33/22, 2016, para. 12f, at: http://ap.ohchr.org/documents/dpage_e.aspx?si=A/HRC/33/22. 17 UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), General Comment No. 7 (2005): Implementing Child Rights in Early Childhood, 20 September 2006, CRC/C/GC/7/Rev.1, para. 25, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/460bc5a62.html. 18 African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, General Comment No. 2 on Article 6 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 16 April 2014, ACERWC/GC/02 (2014), at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/54db21734.html. 19 CRC, General Comment No. 7 (2005): Implementing Child Rights in Early Childhood, 20 September 2006, CRC/C/GC/7/Rev.1, para. 25, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/460bc5a62.html. 20 UNHCR, Conclusion on civil registration No. 111 (LXIV)-2013, 17 October 2013, No. 111 (LXIV)-2013, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/525f8ba64.html. 21 UN Human Rights Council (HRC), Birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law: resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council, 24 March 2017, A/HRC/RES/34/15, at: http://goo.gl/NeAgN3; HRC, Birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law: Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 17 June 2014, A/HRC/27/22, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/53ff324e4.html; HRC, The right to a nationality: women’s equal nationality rights in law and in practice: resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council, 18 July 2016, A/HRC/RES/32/7, para. 8, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/57e910044.html; HRC, Strengthening policies and programmes for universal birth registration and vital statistics development, 1 July 2016, A/HRC/33/22, at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/57e13b2a4.html. 4 CAMPAIGN TO END STATELESSNESS WITHIN 10 YE ARS