The purpose of this report is to compare the legal frameworks governing birth registration in eleven jurisdictions. Birth registration is the process by which a child's birth is recorded in the civil register by the applicable government authority. It provides the first legal recognition of the child. The questionnaires have been prepared by lawyers from the UK and other jurisdictions performing desk based research. The questionnaires focus on the registration of births occurring within the relevant jurisdiction.

This report analyzes the gendered impacts of inadequacies in marriage and divorce registration in six countries on the African continent. The six countries reviewed are Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Burkina Faso and Morocco, representing the different types of legal systems prominent on the continent. A review of each of these legal systems reveals a common thread: each legal system fails to adequately recognize various marriages embraced by the population and in doing so, denies women in these marriages important rights.

Many Pacific Island countries and territories are unable to get accurate counts of birth, death and causes of death information. This lack of information affects local health and community planning, funding and priority planning and ability to access aid investment. Many people are born in one country but die in another place. The original birth and death certificates are generally issued in the country of occurrence, so the records are often not registered in their home island, country or territory. 

This report presents, for the first time, comprehensive, global data about these children – where they are born, where they move, and some of the dangers they face along the way. The report sheds light on the truly global nature of childhood migration and displacement, highlighting the major challenges faced by child migrants and refugees in every region.

The Start-Up Mortality List (SMoL) has been designed to be in line with the International Classification of Diseases version 10 (ICD-10), and informs setting public health priorities and tracking progress towards national and international targets and goals such as the post-2015 health and development agenda. This list is designed to be a first step towards standardized reporting of causes of death. Countries lacking the capacities to code to ICD-10 3- or 4-digits should use the SMoL.

A global meeting on civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) took place in Addis Ababa from 28-29 April 2014, co-hosted by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank Group, and sponsored by the Government of Canada Department for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD).

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss investment and acceleration of CRVS strengthening, building on the current regional and global momentum (see Agenda, Annex I). More specifically, the meeting’s objectives were to: