ESCAP convened a high-level meeting on ways in which governments can improve policy and practice around registering births and deaths and assigning legal identity.
The UN agency estimates that around 135 million children under the age of five in the Asia-Pacific region have not had their births registered, leading to problems of access to healthcare, education and proper travel documents.
Civil registration contributes to several targets under the SDGs, including target 16.9 on legal identity and target 17.18 on improving the quality, timeliness, reliability and disaggregation of statistical data.
20 October 2017: The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) convened a high-level meeting on civil registration and vital statistics, which discussed ways in which governments can improve policy and practice around registering births and deaths and assigning legal identity. Civil registration contributes to several Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets, including target 16.9 on legal identity, and target 17.18 on improving the quality, timeliness, reliability and disaggregation of statistical data.
The event, which took place from 18-20 October in Bangkok, Thailand, was the third meeting of the Regional Steering Group for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS). The Regional Steering Group meeting focused on the link between CRVS, national development and the SDGs and aimed to provide guidance to countries on methods and approaches to CRVS. ESCAP reports that countries in the region have tended to rely on census data as the source of population-related information, more than on having strong civil registration systems.
The UN regional commission estimates that around 135 million children under the age of five in the Asia-Pacific region have not had their births registered, leading to problems of access to healthcare, education, and proper travel documents. Shamshad Akhtar, UN ESCAP Executive Secretary, noted that, while the region has made progress toward ‘getting everyone in the picture’, stronger data collection efforts are required to ensure that all have legal identities and that CRVS systems are accessible and function well.
A representative from the Philippines Statistics Authority described how data from CRVS systems provides governments with indicators relevant for SDG implementation.
During the meeting, UN Member States shared national experiences and gave their views on ways forward. For example, Ilieas Ravuchi, Ministry of Health and Medical systems, Fiji, discussed using data from a unified national ID system to improve people’s access to education and health services, while Editha Orcilla, Philippines Statistics Authority, described how data from CRVS systems provide governments with indicators relevant for SDG implementation.
The Regional Steering group represents 22 UN Member States in the region and eight development partners, including the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The group meets every year, bringing together high-level officials from the Ministries of Health, Interior and Planning with national statistical authorities.
Member States have adopted a commonly agreed reporting structure on CRVS, and 37 countries have submitted baseline reports to ESCAP on the situation of CRVS in their countries. The UN declared a ‘CRVS Decade’ from 2015-2024, and the regional meeting included discussion of modalities for a mid-term review of the Decade.
In addition to the SDG targets related to CRVS, one of the indicators under Goal 17 (partnerships for the Goals) calls for achieving 100% birth registration and 80% death registration by 2030. [ESCAP Press Release] [CRVS Asia-Pacific Website] [Webpage with Interviews at the Regional Steering Group Meeting]