In framework of permanent co-operation with UN bodies and officials our Association sent submission in endng of 2024 for the study of UN High Commissioner on Human Rights on the use of digital technologies to achieve universal birth registration, its practices and challenges, and potential mechanisms to close the gap between the number of children whose births are reported as registered and those who actually have a birth certificate.
This study will be done by Commissioner executing UN Human Rights Council’s resolution 52/25 on birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law, that is brutally violated by agressor on Russia-occupied territories of Ukraine, as it was proved in our Associaiton’s submission, published on UN official web-sources this January.
ARC’s submission, prepared by Dr. Borys Babin, PhD Ahha Prykhodko and Julia Sidorenko, reminded that after Russia occupied Crimea in 2014 and till 2020 more that 10% of children, born in occupation, got Ukrainian sertificates of birth, despites the special court procedure had to be done on Ukrainian mainland, with presence of child’ representaive for each issue.
Later, Ukrainian official system ‘Electronic Court’ started, where parents have to file an application to confirm the birth of a child, and a birth certificate for a baby, born in the Crimea, could be obtained by electronic signature via digital service “eMalyatko”.
But, as submission remonded, Russia’s broad-scale aggression created principal barriers, facing before realization by Ukrainian women and children their rights to equality, to sustainable development and to dignity.
Now any Ukranian birth sertificate, issued after 2022, is a ground of repression against such child’s parents, as in Crimea, so in the Russia-occupied mainland, including violence, tortures and “deprivation of parents’ rights”.
Anyway in 2023, as our submission stressed, Ukraine established more simplifyed administrative mechanism of registering births at Russia-controlled territory of Ukraine.
Also, as submission reminded, Russian invaders confiscate and destroy all Ukrainian birth certificates from deported Ukrainian childlren, and in the spring of 2022 the aggressor-controlled Crimea newspaper “Yevpatoriyska Zdravnitza” even published a de-facto instruction for such scheme of criminal “re-registration” of deported children, whose relatives were killed by Russian invaders.
So, regarding UN High Commissioner’s new study, our Assocaiton on recommended him to pay special attention there to issues of registering births in conflict zones and territories under foreign control; in conditions of discrimination and criminal violence against deported, displaced and migrated women and children; and of registering births in conditions of genocidal attempts against sertain ethnic group, as it is committing at all Russia-controlled territory of Ukraine against ethnic Ukrainians.
Our cooperation with UN bodies on those issues will be continued.
