Briefing note to the CEDAW Committee on the child’s right to identity including birth registration, name, nationality and family relations. Since its establishment, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW Committee) has monitored the implementation of the right of women to have equal rights and joint responsibilities with regards to children (Art.5) which includes birth registration. The CEDAW Committee also ensures equal access in nationality matters, including in the transmission of nationality to children on an equal basis with men (Art.9) and protection of family relations (Art.16). These rights coincide with the child’s right to identity in Arts. 7 and 8 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Committee’s jurisprudence has evolved to address a wide array of challenges that threaten children’s enjoyment of these rights – including discriminatory practices against women - providing a solid foundation of guidance on how these can be overcome. With the inclusion of legal identity for all, including birth registration, as an explicit target in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 16.9), the Committee’s work to articulate the content of this right is more important than ever. CHIP, ISI, UNICEF, UNHCR and its partners, welcome the significant contributions the CEDAW Committee has provided so far. Backed by a cadre of strong civil society advocates, working across a range of issues related to identity rights in different contexts and countries around the world, we stand ready to facilitate the work necessary to guide the Committee in its further engagement on this topic. To this end, we offer this short briefing note which reiterates the central importance of the right to identity to the achievement of all child rights; summarizes the major obstacles and provides an overview of current global efforts in response. It is critical to further unpack the complex factors – both long-standing and emergent – that threaten children’s identity rights. Complex emergencies, such as in Ethiopia, Syria and Yemen, present particular challenges to legal identity. Mass displacement, such as the one we are currently witnessing in South Sudan and Ukraine, and the birth of children to parents associated with armed groups, also pose significant challenges for the establishment, retention and reconstruction (if lost) of legal identity. The increasing use of assisted reproductive technologies raises complex questions about how a child’s nationality and family relationships are determined, requiring further examination. Such areas would greatly benefit from further authoritative guidance from the Committee. The note also shows the existing scope to mainstream efforts to protect identity rights across the UN system and through associated initiatives. The CEDAW Committee is uniquely positioned to provide guidance and oversight to ensure that discrimination against women and girls is addressed, including where it may result in obstacles to birth registration, lead to statelessness, or contribute to gaps in a child’s identity in family relations. Legal identity is a precondition for claiming many rights under CEDAW. The CEDAW Committee can also encourage the use of a child’s birth certificate as the primary document for proof of age to potentially prevent child marriage by encouraging legal identity for all and registration of all unions. To this end, CHIP, ISI, UNICEF, and UNHCR, with their partners in the Identity Rights Working Group, would respectfully request an opportunity to brief the CEDAW Committee on the issues highlighted in this concept note.