Does the Right to Birth Registration Include a Right to a Birth Certificate?

Abstract

International human rights law has long recognised the right of every child to have their birth registered. However, what is less clear is what this right encompasses. For example, does the normative content of the right to birth registration include a right to a birth certificate? This is a question that has become very relevant to Indigenous Australians many of whom are experiencing difficulties acquiring a birth certificate. This article argues that the right to birth registration, as set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, implicitly includes the right to a birth certificate. This conclusion is reached following an analysis of the work of the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Keywords: birth certificate, birth registration, Convention on the Rights of the Child, ICCPR, Indigenous, international human rights law, United Nations Human Rights Committee, United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child

JEL Classification: K00, K10, K30, K33