5 million children registered since 2005

A new report Count me in! reveals that more than five million children have been registered since the launch of Plan's birth registration campaign in February 2005.

ARCHBISHOP DESMUND TUTU today echoed the demand from leading children’s organisation, Plan, for increased government support for birth registration worldwide.

Supporting the launch of Plan’s report on its global birth registration campaign, entitled Count me in! Archbishop Tutu called on governments to give greater urgency to making universal birth registration a reality.

Archbishop Tutu said: "Count me in! makes me very proud. As a result of Plan's campaign another five million children around the world now have a formal identity.

"But much more remains to be done. Governments must take proper responsibility for registering children. An unregistered child loses out on many rights and we cannot allow this any longer."

His remarks follow one of the main recommendations in the recent UN Violence against Children Study that urges countries to develop national birth registration systems.

At present no records exist of the birth of six of every ten babies born in South Asia. In sub-Saharan Africa the births of 55 per cent of all children go unrecorded every year.

Ian Wishart, national executive director of Plan in Australia says: "It is a matter of life and death for children. Those without birth certificates are more vulnerable to traffickers and during disasters. They are also more likely to grow up without education, health care and civil rights."

The report argues for a global response to the issue of unregistered children. Plan is now pushing for the establishment of international guidelines for achieving universal birth registration. These would ensure better coordination and create much-needed political commitment.

But substantial progress has been made according to the new study. Major achievements of Plan’s UBR campaign to date include:

• Policy and legislative changes in ten countries, with a further 21 countries working towards change. In Sierra Leone birth certificates can now be issued to children aged between seven and 18.
• 11 countries have reduced costs for registration, issuing of certificates and retrospective fees. In Bolivia birth registration is now free for children up to 12.
• The recognition of Plan as a leading global authority on birth registration and its development of nine key best practice strategies for boosting registration rates.

"We have come a long way," says Ian Wishart. "Our campaign has helped push birth registration up the political agenda but we must continue fighting to give this issue the recognition it deserves.

"It is a question of child rights. The 192 states which have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the child must provide an effective birth registration system in their countries."

Notes to Editors:

1. Birth registration helps identify and protect marginalised children. In the light of today's massive population movements and organised child trafficking, birth registration is more essential than ever.
2. The births of an estimated 48 million children go unregistered every year.
3. Plan’s Universal Birth Registration campaign was launched on the February 22, 2005 at the United Nations headquarters in New York by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Plan chief executive Tom Miller.
4. Plan's Universal Birth Registraion campaign website is at www.writemedown.org