Milestones in advancing universal birth registration The right to be recognized as a person before the law and to be registered at birth is acknowledged in nearly every major human rights instrument. 1948 December 1948 May 2002 December 1966 The Universal Declaration of Human Rights8 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights10 Article 6. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law. Article 24. 2. Every child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have a name. 3. Every child has the right to acquire a nationality. November 1959 Declaration of the Rights of the Child9 Principle 3. The child shall be entitled from his birth to a name and a nationality. Reaffirms governments’ commitment to ensure the registration of all children at birth.13 December 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families12 Article 29. Each child of a migrant worker shall have the right to a name, to registration of birth and to a nationality. November 1989 September 2006 The Committee on the Rights of the Child addresses the issue of birth registration and formulates standards in its General Comment No. 7 on implementing child rights in early childhood.15 December 2006 The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol16 Article 18. 2. Children with disabilities shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by their parents. September 2004 Convention on the Rights of the Child11 UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement14 Article 7. 1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents. Principle 20. 1. Every human being has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law. Article 8. 1. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name, and family relations, as recognized by law, without unlawful interference. 2. Where a child is illegally deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity, States Parties shall provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to speedily re-establishing his or her identity. 10 General Assembly resolution ‘A World Fit for Children’ Birth Registration for Every Child by 2030: Are we on track? 2006 2. To give effect to this right for internally displaced persons, the authorities concerned shall issue to them all documents necessary for the enjoyment and exercise of their legal rights, such as passports, personal identification documents, birth certificates and marriage certificates. In particular, the authorities shall facilitate the issuance of new documents or the replacement of documents lost in the course of displacement, without imposing unreasonable conditions, such as requiring the return to one’s area of habitual residence in order to obtain these or other required documents.