LONDON (AlertNet) - Both in times of crisis and non-crisis, children without a birth certificate are at risk of exploitation, violence and abuse, according to a report by Plan International.

The 2005 Pakistan earthquake killed an estimated 17,000 children but thousands more were left destitute because they could not prove who they were or claim what belonged to them.

Likewise, thousands of young survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami could not access vital services or were exposed to trafficking because they had no identification.

To protect the rights of such vulnerable children, the UK-based charity in 2005 launched a global campaign for universal birth registration, which culminated on Monday with the release of a progress report called "Count Every Child".

Over the last five years, Plan and its national and international partners have helped to register over 40 million people, mostly children, in 32 countries - more than the population of Canada, the report said.

"Being unregistered denies children access to so many of their rights - education, health, participation as active citizens in their countries, to name but a few," wrote Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who launched the campaign in 2005, in a foreword to the report.

"Universal birth registration is impossible to ignore and entirely possible to achieve," he added.

The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, building on other treaties, enshrined the right of all children to birth registration. Despite these legal obligations on countries, 51 million children were not registered at birth in 2006, according to UNICEF.

But Plan said its five-year campaign has seen a huge increase in registrations in some countries, aided by mass publicity campaigns, the support of local celebrities and lobbying of governments to make registration free and more accessible.

One area in Indonesia saw registration rates soar to 72 percent from just 3 percent in two years, Plan said. In Cambodia, around seven million people or 56 percent of the population picked up their birth certificates in ten months. From November 2006 to June 2007, birth registration in Uganda rose to 69 percent from 45 percent.

CRISIS SITUATIONS

Children without a birth certificate cannot access immunisation programmes in some countries. They are often barred from school. They cannot get national identity papers, meaning they cannot work, open a bank account or get a passport.

They cannot prove their age, bringing a range of risks from being forced into marriage, child labour or to fight as child soldiers.

Starting out in life without a birth certificate often forces children into a dangerous cycle: without education they may get involved in crime, drugs or prostitution, exposing them to HIV/AIDS, the report said.

Children who survive humanitarian disasters or war are particularly at risk if they do not have birth certificates.

"When wars, hurricanes, earthquakes and floods strike, identity papers become essential in order to qualify for emergency assistance, for example, for receiving food aid or claiming compensation, and proving property and land rights," the report said.

Following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, child trafficking was rife and without documents, several families came forward to collect the same child.

Children who are displaced or born in refugee camps often end up "stateless" - not recognised by any country and without any rights. Estimates suggest there are 11 to 15 million people worldwide who are stateless, the report said.

VULNERABLE TO TRAFFICKING

The October 2005 earthquake in Kashmir and Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) left thousands of children homeless and destitute because they could not claim their inheritance or land without documents, said Safdar Raza, Plan's advocacy coordinator in Pakistan.

Children were also more vulnerable to trafficking without documentation, and they were equally at risk if they escaped as neither they nor their parents could prove they were related.

Plan, UNICEF, and other agencies worked with the Pakistani government after the earthquake to reissue lost documents to adults and children and to register babies.

"We set up special registration units in and around the camps for the people affected by the earthquake so we could register them: they had lost everything, their birth certificate, education testimony - all buried," he told AlertNet.

Plan's work in Pakistan, outside the earthquake crisis, has focused on the country's most marginalised areas, around the Hinda Kush mountain ranges and the Himalayas, where huge distances, rivers, mountains and poverty mean birth registration rates are low, said Raza.

In these regions and other remote parts of the world, mobile registration units - vehicles that generally carry computers, printers, photocopying machines and generators - take the process to the people.

The government of the NWFP declared 2006 the year of birth registration, making it free for all children up to 18 years old, and by May 2007, over 1 million birth registrations had been reported in the province, the report said.

However, when law and order breaks down, as it has today in the conflict regions of northern Pakistan, the birth registration process also grinds to a halt, added Raza.

LAMINATING PAPERS, CHANGING THE LAW

South Asia is the worst offender in terms of birth registration, with only 36 percent of children registered at birth, closely followed Sub-Saharan Africa with a rate of 37 percent, according to Plan.

Some countries have dire rates of registration of children under 5, according to a UNICEF breakdown of statistics from the past few years: Afghanistan at 6 percent, Chad at 9 percent, and Somalia at 3 percent.

In Burkina Faso, publicity campaigns have helped raised awareness of birth registration but officials are now struggling to help provide identification to some 103,000 people affected by severe flooding in September - adults and children who lost documents or did not have them, said Paul Doygbe, Plan's birth registration coordinator in the country.

In countries where floods are common, such as in West Africa and Vietnam, laminated certificates are being provided.

Plan said its campaign had prompted 30 percent of countries to change their legal systems, resulting in free birth certificates and registration for more than 153 million children born between 2005 and 2009.

However, much more needs to be done, the report said. The charity urged more countries to change their laws and make birth registration free of charge or more accessible and for all partners to work towards 100 percent universal birth registration.

Ethiopia is a particularly target. It does not have a functioning civil registration system and just 7 percent of children below 5 were registered in Ethiopia in 2005, according to UNICEF.

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