Theme: Towards Universal Birth Registration in Africa: challenges and opportunities during COVID-19

Both Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, calls for legal identity for all, including birth registration. The realization of both Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development requires that every vital event is registered and information related to the events are collected, compiled, produced and disseminated in a regular and continuous manner to guide policy and planning, to inform decisions, enable all stakeholders to track progress and make the necessary adjustments to ensure transparency and mutual accountability. Several legal instruments and protocols of the AU call for the promotion and strengthening of birth registration, notably the African Charter on Human Rights; the Convention on the Rights of Children and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.

Article 6 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child contains provisions relating to naming, acquisition of nationality, and birth registration. Birth registration in Africa had remained stagnant for a long time, leaving millions of children deprived of their basic right to legal identity. But more recently there have been encouraging signs of progress. The African Union Assembly in July 2016 declared 2017-2026 as the decade for repositioning civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) in Africa within continental, regional and national development agendas and urges governments to respond with appropriate action. Ensuring universal birth registration is one of the areas that required focused action during the course of this decade.

Africa has in recent years made considerable progress in improving birth registration but it has not been sufficient as only 52 per cent of children under 5 are registered and the continent is not on track to meet the SDG goal of every child having a legal identity, including birth registration, by 2030.

In West and Central Africa, over the past three years, the regional average of children under 5 registered at birth increased from 45 per cent to 53 per cent equalling up to 8.6 million more children registered. In Eastern and Southern Africa, the average percentage of under 5 children registered is currently 40 per cent. Some countries on the continent like Algeria and Tunisia have reached 100 per cent while others like Ethiopia and Somalia are as low as 3 per cent.

Objectives of the Senior Officials Meeting.

The objective of the technical meeting is to discuss the progress, challenges and opportunities to accelerate birth registration in Africa in this new context of the COVID-19 pandemic in light of the findings of the rapid assessment survey and an overall review of the current status of birth registration on the continent. The meeting will provide an opportunity for Member States, Civil Society, private sector and other stake holders to provide updates on the level of implementation of recommendations regarding birth registration from the last Ministers’ meeting in Zambia and share experiences and good practices on civil registration and vital statistics in general.

Expected outcomes

The outcome of the technical meeting will be used as a background document for the high level institutional and partners’ event that will be organized in November 2020. The technical meeting is expected to review the following:

- The draft report of the rapid assessment survey

- A draft Declaration including recommendations towards universal birth registration in Africa during and after COVID

- A draft agenda for the High-level conference in December 2020

- The “No Name Campaign” road map towards the High-level conference