Today, there are about 50 million children worldwide whose births have not been registered.

In the Philippines, more than 2.6 million Filipino children do not have birth certificates because of social, cultural, economic, legal and physical barriers aside from lack of awareness on the importance of birth registration. Without a birth certificate, these children cannot prove their identity and existence. As such, they are often denied access to education, health care, child protection and other civil rights.

The right to be registered at birth is recognized in Article 7 of the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Said article specifically states that: "The child should be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name [and] the right to acquire a nationality." However, even if 191 countries ratified the Convention and several efforts have been undertaken to increase birth registration, the birth of millions of children worldwide remain unregistered.

The global campaign on Universal Birth Registration (UBR) will be launched on February 22 at the UN Headquarters in New York headed by Nobel Prize Awardee Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Plan International Chief Executive Officer Tom Miller. Simultaneous with the international launch and as part of the Civil Registration Month celebration this February, the National Statistics Office (NSO) and Plan Philippines will jointly spearhead the UBR advocacy in the country on February 23 with the theme "Pangalan Ko, Karapatan Ko" (My Name, My Right), through the Birth Registration Project (BRP).

BRP aims to further strengthen the Philippine Civil Registration System and to achieve 100 percent birth registration for all Filipino children pursuant to the National Action Plan for Children for the year 2005-2010. The advocacy targets of the project include the elimination of birth registration fees and penalties, institutionalization of the Barangay Civil Registration System and enactment of laws relevant to birth registration. BRP takes off from the success of the Unregistered Children Project (UCP) implemented from 2000 to 2004. UCP, among its other accomplishments, has been instrumental in the enactment of Republic Act No. 9255 that allows illegitimate children to use their father’s surname.

BRP is set to raise awareness and disseminate information on the global call to birth registration as a fundamental human right through a roving vehicle campaign in the streets around Metro Manila on February 23. The UBR launch will be capped off by a solidarity night in a dinner reception at Traders Hotel. On this gathering, the children’s agenda and covenant on birth registration is scheduled for presentation to be sealed by the pledge of commitment among UBR advocates comprised of government and NGO partners, legislators, ambassadors and the children’s sector.

Meanwhile, a series of pre-launch activities are also underway. The UBR Advocates Solidarity Forum and Press Conference is currently being held today, February 9, at Dusit Hotel. There will also be mobile registration on February 15 at Maharlika Village in Taguig to facilitate actual registration of Muslims and at Elsie Gaches Village, Muntinlupa which houses more than 600 mentally challenged children in need of special protection. The mobile registration will be conducted in partnership with the local government units and their civil registry offices.#