Plan International, a 70-year-old international development agency, launched a campaign called Write Me Down in 2005 to increase the birth registration of children around the world. Today, up to half of all births in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are still unregistered, and 50 million children are born yearly without birth certificates. Being registered at birth makes it easier for one to obtain social services, prove their age, and have a national identity. This, in turn, can help children avoid child labor, child marriage and trafficking, and have better access to education and health care. The campaign is working in developing countries as diverse as Bangladesh and Mozambique to help register children. Plan is also working with governments to enact birth registration laws.
Even though many countries, like Bangladesh, have laws prohibiting marriage before the age of 18, if a girl cannot prove her age, she may be forced into an early marriage. This is where the Write Me Down campaign can help.
Compiled from: Universal Birth Registration Campaign, Plan International, 2008; White, Cassie, Children more vulnerable to exploitation without birth registry, ABC News, 10 December 2008.