ISI Database on Statelessness and
Human Rights

33. While noting the estimated increase in the birth registration rate and the measures taken by the State party in this respect, including the Unregistered Children Project conducted in collaboration with PLAN International and the National Statistics Office, the Committee remains concerned at the difficulties in ensuring timely birth registration of children, in particular children belonging to religious or other minority groups or indigenous peoples and children living in the remote areas of the country and at the fact that birth registration is not free of charge and not equally accessible to all parents in the entire territory of the State party. The Committee also expresses its concern about the simulation of birth certificates.

34. In order to secure the full enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by children and to achieve 100 per cent birth registration, the Committee recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to develop an efficient and at all stages free of charge birth registration system, which covers its territory fully, including through using more effectively mobile birth registration units to reach the most remote areas of its territory. The Committee requests the State party to pay particular attention to improved access to an early birth registration for parents whose children were born out of wedlock and parents belonging to religious or other minorities or indigenous peoples.

35. The Committee recommends to the State party that it introduce awareness-raising campaigns aimed at changing public attitudes and sensitizing parents, maternity clinics and hospitals, midwives and traditional birth attendants, in order to achieve better birth registration coverage in the country. In addition, the Committee recommends that the State party deepen its cooperation with the international agencies and non-governmental institutions in this respect. The Committee recommends that the State party take effective measures against simulation of birth certificates, inter alia, by assigning a governmental body, such as the Department of Social Welfare and Development, to monitor the implementation of relevant provisions and file all simulation cases. The Committee also recommends to the State party that it launch an information campaign, particularly at the local level, on the child’s right to identity at birth and on growing up in a family.

36. With reference to the high number of overseas Philippine workers, the Committee is concerned about children born abroad to Philippine migrant workers. Due to the non-registration of these children, they are deprived of their right to name, nationality and identity as well as basic services. 

37. The Committee recommends to the State party that it encourage and facilitate parents, irrespective of their residence status, to register their children born abroad. The Committee also recommends that the State party ensure that unregistered children without official documentation are allowed access to basic services, such as health and education, while waiting to be properly registered. In addition, the Committee recommends to the State party that it raise awareness among parents about the need and value of birth registration.

32. While the Committee welcomes the massive campaigns for birth registration undertaken, it continues to be concerned that there is still a lack of institutional capacity in the Civil Registry System and that a quite consistent group of children are still not legally registered due to administrative, legal and cultural causes.

33. The Committee reiterates its previous recommendation urging the State party take all possible steps to ensure immediate registration of the births of all children, and to promote and facilitate the registration of those children who were not registered at birth, in the light of article 7 of the Convention. In particular, the State party should modernize and ensure the proper operation and maintenance of the Civil Registry System, including by providing it with the necessary resources.

39. The Committee is still very concerned (see CRC/C/15/Add.102, para. 20) at the lack of birth registration of a significant number of children, which has negative consequences for the full enjoyment of their fundamental rights and freedoms.

40. The Committee recommends that the State party take appropriate measures to ensure the registration of all births, in accordance with article 7 of the Convention, such as by organizing awareness-raising campaigns for birth registration, establishing civil registration mechanisms in hospitals, as well as encouraging the use of mobile registration units, particularly in remote and rural areas.