By Tim Large | Thu., August 25, 1:28 PM | Comments ( 0 )
As the world marks the 50th anniversary of a convention to reduce the number of stateless people that only 38 countries have signed up to, child rights organisation Plan International is calling on governments to tackle the problem by registering all children at birth.
“Birth registration is the first step in ensuring all children have legal existence and they can enjoy their basic rights such as education and health care,” says Nadya Kassam, Plan’s head of global advocacy. “Identity and nationality are a birth right of every child.”
Every year about 50 million newborns go unregistered, mostly in developing countries, Plan says, citing lack of political will, inadequate infrastructure, low awareness among parents and the high costs of obtaining a birth certificate. Discrimination based on gender and ethnicity is also one of the factors, it says.
Find out more about the plight of 12-15 million people who are stateless globally:
- Stateless: The world’s most invisible people? (AlertNet special report)
- UNHCR launches campaign to combat statelessness (UNHCR article)
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