August 2007 First Latin American Regional Conference on Birth Registration and the Right to Identity was held in Asuncion, Paraguay, inspiring work to improve civil registration in other regions. January 2013 September 2015 The regional strategic plan was endorsed by the ESCAP Committee on Statistics at its third session18 and subsequently supported in ESCAP resolution 69/15 adopted in March 2013, urging that actions by countries and development partners are aligned with the plan’s eight outcomes.19 August 2010 First Conference of African Ministers Responsible for Civil Registration, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was attended by over 40 ministers from the continent and resulted in a declaration and plan of action. December 2012 In response to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) resolution 67/12,17 a regional strategic plan was drafted and a consensus reached at the Make Every Life Count High-level Meeting on the Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific, hosted by ESCAP and the World Health Organization. June 2019 The Sustainable Development Goals are adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, placing birth registration on the international development agenda with the inclusion of a dedicated target under Goal 16: “the aim of providing legal identity for all, including birth registration, by 2030.”22 2014 Launch of the World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D) platform and initiative that seek to enable all people to access services and rights through digital identification systems. November 2014 The Asian and Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Decade (2015-2024) was proclaimed at the Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific held in Bangkok, Thailand and subsequently declared by ESCAP in resolution 71/14 in 2015.20 The ministerial meeting also culminated in the adoption of a ministerial declaration to ‘Get Every One in the Picture’, committing governments in the region to focus efforts on improving civil registration and vital statistics systems.21 Representatives of the LIEG Secretariat presented the UN Legal Identity Agenda to an audience of more than 600 participants – made up of representatives from African governments, development agencies and industry – at the Fifth Annual ID4Africa Meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa. July 2018 United Nations Member States finalized the text of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration that includes as one of its objectives to “ensure that all migrants have proof of legal identity and adequate documentation” and commits to “…ensure, through appropriate measures, that migrants are issued adequate documentation and civil registry documents, such as birth, marriage and death certificates…”23 September 2018 Establishment of the time-bound inter-agency UN Legal Identity Expert Group (LIEG) in support of the UN Legal Identity Agenda 2020-2030. The agenda was formulated in response to a request by the United Nations SecretaryGeneral to UN agencies to develop a common approach – in collaboration with the World Bank Group – to the broader issue of civil registration and legal identity in support of the SDG promise to leave no one behind. The expert group is taking a unified approach to legal identity, starting from birth, across the UN system. It is also providing support to UN Member States to strengthen national civil registration, vital statistics and identity management systems based on international standards and good practices. Birth registration and sustainable development 11