The right to birth registration is also included in
the International Convention on the Protection of
Migrant Workers and Their Families,10 the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities,11 and in many regional human rights
instruments.
The principle of equality and non-discrimination
against women is also well-established in
international human rights law.12 The primary
international human rights treaty concerned with
the protection and promotion of women’s human
rights is the Convention on the Elimination of all
Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),
which has as its object and purpose “to eliminate
all forms of discrimination against women with a
view to achieving women’s de jure and de facto
equality with men in the enjoyment of their human
rights and fundamental freedoms”13 Article 2(f) of
CEDAW requires States Parties to “take all
appropriate measures, including legislation, to
modify or abolish existing laws, regulations,
customs and practices which constitute
discrimination against women.”
Article 9(2) of CEDAW states that “States Parties
shall grant women equal rights with men with
respect to the nationality of their children.”
Discrimination against women which prevents
them from registering the births of their children
can interfere with the fulfilment of States’
obligations under Article 9(2) of CEDAW.14 Other
widely ratified human rights treaties also contain
obligations relating to the equality of women. For
example, the ICCPR in Article 3 requires States to
‘undertake to ensure the equal right of men and
women to the enjoyment of all civil and political
rights set forth in the present Covenant.’
10 Article 29, International Convention on the Protection of Migrant Workers and Their Families, 1990.
11 Article 18(2), Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, 2007.
12 Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 (CRC) promotes the principle of non-discrimination in the
application of the CRC for all children within a State’s jurisdiction.
13 UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), General recommendation No. 25, on article 4,
paragraph 1, of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, on temporary special
measures, 2004, para. 4. See https://www.refworld.org/docid/453882a7e0.html
14 CEDAW, General recommendation No. 32 on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and
statelessness of women, 14 November 2014, paras 56 – 57. See https://www.refworld.org/docid/54620fb54.html
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