statelessness will occur due to lack of birth registration. 6 Reaching universal birth registration relies on states establishing and maintaining functional and inclusive Civil Registration Systems. According to a recent statistical report by UNICEF, 14 million children under five are not registered in Southern Africa, and 19 million do not have birth certificates. Therefore, issuing birth certificates immediately after birth registration is good practice.7 In many countries, it is the poorest and most marginalised children who are not registered, blocking their access to resources and opportunities. UNICEF predicts that the total number of unregistered children will rise if governments do not accelerate their progress. Three approaches appear to facilitate enhanced access to birth registration: decentralisation, digitization and interoperability. Equally important, governments must be committed to the process from start to finish and include provisions for marginalised groups in their programming. 8 Over the past decades, global and regional Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) initiatives have helped develop guidelines and promote good practices for reforming country programs. The Sustainable Development Target 16.9, which aims to achieve “legal identity for all, including birth registration”, has positioned civil registration as a global development issue aiding the agenda on statelessness because it incorporates birth registration. Multiple UN agencies, including UNICEF, UNDP, WHO, UNESCAP, UNECA and UNHCR, are engaged in different parts of the CRVS and Identity global agenda, together with other significant players like the World Bank, the Global Financing Facility (GFF), the EU and Vital Strategies (VS) as part of the Bloomberg Philanthropies for Health Data Initiatives. Birth registration a priority for UNHCR UNHCR is entrusted with the formal mandate to prevent and reduce statelessness worldwide. Birth registration is a global strategic priority, and UNHCR engages in birth registration programming related to the prevention and reduction of statelessness and the protection of persons of concern. Strengthening of birth registration systems is also part of UNHCR's mandate. 9 UNHCR provides children of concern, including stateless children, with access to rights and services and age-appropriate legal protection, protects them against violence and abuse, and prevents family separation in emergencies. 10 UNHCR Good Practices Paper, Action 7: Ensuring birth registration for the prevention of statelessness, 2017 https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a0ac8f94.html 6 7 https://www.unicef.org/stories/what-birth-registration-and-why-does-it-matter 8 UNICEF, A statistical profile of birth registration in Africa, November 2020 https://data.unicef.org/resources/a-statistical-profile-of-birth-registration-in-africa/ 9 UNHCR Child Protection Issue Brief: Birth Registration, 2013 https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/523fe9214.pdf UNHCR’s mandate for refugees, stateless and IDPs https://emergency.unhcr.org/entry/91581/unhcrs-mandatefor-refugees-stateless-persons-and-idps 10 UNHCR Good Practices Paper, Action 7: Ensuring birth registration for the prevention of statelessness, 2017 https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a0ac8f94.html 3