Most countries demand to see a birth certificate before enrolling a child in school. Many require one for supplemental feeding programmes. Such fundamental activities as getting married, opening a bank account, owning land, voting and obtaining a passport may be denied to a person without a birth certificate, because it is the basis on which a country identifies its citizens. In addition to conferring privilege, proof of birth can also protect. With it, a boy can verify that he is ineligible for military service, a girl that she is too young to go to work.
Registration can offer a degree of protection from sex traffickers.
Knowing that a girl without papers is more vulnerable and less likely to run away, traffickers typically snare their victims in remote villages where poverty is high and registration rates are low. And a birth certificate can be a useful ally in the hands of a teenager accused of a crime. I am presiding over a murder trial of a young man who doesn't have a birth certificate. If convicted, he could face the hangman's noose because he cannot prove that he was under 18 at the time the crime was committed. If birth registration is significant for the individual, it is profound for the nation.