Write me down, make me real

Most of us take our birth registration for granted: we have a name, we have a nationality – in short: we exist. More than 30 percent of the estimated births worldwide in one year are being denied that human right. Imagine it: some 48 million children born every year do not legally exist!

Why is birth registration so important? Well, it gives a person access to education, to healthcare and immunization, it enables a person to open a bank account, obtain credit, get a passport, to vote and to find employment. Things that you and I just take for granted because we happened to be born in a country where the government has a well functioning system of birth registration.

Proof of age can help protect against child labour and child marriage, proof of nationality make it easier to defend against child abuse and trafficking.

In 2005 Plan International started a global campaign for Universal Birth Registration called Write me down, make me real. It is directed at governments who signed the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, to take appropriate action to register all births in their countries. Archbishop Desmond Tutu is supporting the campaign, and Plan International is working in partnership with UNICEF.

Click here to give your support for Universal Birth Rights.