Media Update: United Nations Pakistan, 11 December 2024

UNICEF

PRESS RELEASE

Fastest global increase in birth registration rates in South Asia - UNICEF

New UNICEF report also shows that 42 million children under age five are still without legal identities in South Asia

KATHMANDU, 11 December 2024 — Over the last two decades, South Asia has seen the fastest increase in birth registration rates among all regions, soaring from 39 per cent in 2008 to 76 per cent in 2024, according to a new UNICEF report released today.

India, Nepal, and Bangladesh have made significant strides in securing legal identities for millions of children, as per the report, The Right Start in Life: Global levels and trends in birth registration, 2024 update. Maldives, Bhutan and Sri Lanka have near 100 per cent coverage. Prioritizing timely registration; using health, social protection, and education systems to register babies; expanding services to more locations; digitizing the process; and eliminating fees are some of the reasons for the progress. Released on UNICEF’s 78th birthday, the report is the latest update on the number of children registered since 2019.

“A birth certificate is the foundation for legal identity. But it’s so much more than a document. It protects children’s rights and enables them to access essential services like healthcare, education and other social services,” said Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia. “Today, as UNICEF marks 78 years of championing children’s rights, we celebrate the millions of children who now have their right to a legal identity and a lifetime of promise and possibility.”  

Over 42 million children under age five are still not registered and remain ‘invisible’ in South Asia. This means they are deprived of their right to legal identity and social services. According to the report, one-fourth of the total number of unregistered children under five globally lives in South Asia.

To achieve universal birth registration by 2030, Afghanistan and Pakistan, in particular, must accelerate their efforts. Bangladesh, which has made significant increases over the past decade, needs to scale up birth registration. India has also made remarkable progress over the last ten years, and a ‘celebrating the last-mile' strategy would enable the country to reach universal birth registration by 2030.

Countries can recommit to scale up birth registration across South Asia, ahead of the ‘Third Ministerial Conference on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Asia and the Pacific’ in June 2025.

UNICEF is calling for every child to be registered at birth; for the registration process to be streamlined; and for health, social protection and education programmes to be used in scaling up birth registration.

“To uphold our commitment to leave no child behind, we must prioritize birth registration to protect children and give them the best start in life,” said Wijesekera. “UNICEF calls on leaders across South Asia to accelerate efforts so that every child in the region is registered at birth. It’s the right thing to do.” 

Notes to editors:

Download multimedia content here. View the report and data here.

Article 7 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child states affirms every child's right to have their identity established ‘immediately’ after birth through birth registration. Find out more here.

Estimates are based on comparable data collected between 2014 and 2023 for a subset of 173 countries, representing 98 per cent of the global population of children under age 5. The latest available data for around 80 per cent of these countries are from the last five years. Data sources include nationally representative household surveys such as the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), vital statistics from civil registration systems, censuses and other nationally representative surveys that use a comparable methodology.

For more information, please contact:

Sabrina Sidhu, UNICEF South Asia, +91 9384030106, ssidhu@unicef.org

About UNICEF
UNICEF works in some of the world's toughest places, to reach the world's most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. For more information about UNICEF’s work for children in South Asia, visit www.unicef.org/rosa.

Follow UNICEF on Twitter and Facebook.

UNDP

PRESS RELEASES

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police launches its first-ever Gender Strategy, Gender-Responsive Policing Policy, and SOPs for Gender-Responsive Desks

Peshawar, 10 December 2024 – In a significant step toward ensuring gender-responsive policing, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Police launched its first-ever Gender Strategy, Gender-Responsive Policing Policy, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for Gender-Responsive Desks, under the European Union (EU) funded ‘Deliver Justice Programme’ which is being implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

These landmark initiatives were launched by Mr Akhtar Hayat Khan, Inspector General of the KP Police, marking the end of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV), and aim to create safer, more inclusive police stations for women, both as duty bearers and right holders.

The Gender Strategy, Policy, and SOPs are priorities of the second iteration of the KP Rule of Law Roadmap (2023-2028) and are expected to play a pivotal role in advancing gender-responsive policing and rule of law in the province.

Mr Akhtar Hayat Khan, Inspector General KP Police, took this opportunity to reaffirm, “With this launch today, we have achieved a milestone in advancing gender equality at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police and it is a major step towards ending violence against women and girls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This year, we have seen an unprecedented increase in the number of women participating in our recruitment process, with candidates coming from even the most remote areas of KP. We remain committed to ensuring a safer environment for women police officers and GBV survivors, as this is the key to improving the reporting rate in GBV cases.” He also thanked the EU and UNDP Pakistan for their partnership and support in making the institution more gender-responsive for both the women officers and the communities that they serve.

The KP Police Gender Strategy will promote gender equality by increasing women’s representation within the force and making the institution more gender responsive. Complementing this, the Gender-Responsive Policing Policy and SOPs will help develop the capacity of law enforcement to address the unique needs of vulnerable groups, including women and marginalized communities, with a special focus on survivors of gender-based violence.

In a virtual message, H.E. Dr Riina Kionka, EU Ambassador to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan said, “Statistics show that violence against women and girls ha increased here in recent years. This should be reversed and gender-responsive law enforcement is part of the answer.  The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 5 year Police Gender Strategy that we are launching today, is a key step in that direction, and we stand behind its implementation.” She also thanked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police for their commitment to end GBV and UNDP for their continued support to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police in achieving this crucial goal.

Under the EU-funded 20 million Euro ‘Deliver Justice Programme,’ the UNDP Rule of Law Programme successfully established four gender-responsive desks in the police stations in Peshawar. Similarly, during the past two years, UNDP supported the KP Police to train over 550 police officers, including more than 90 women officers, on handling GBV cases and gender-responsive policing skills.

Mr Kaiser Ishaque, Assistant Resident Representative UNDP Pakistan, underlined, “Improving gender-responsive, accountable, and efficient rule of law service delivery in KP, including its merged districts, is a top priority for the UNDP Rule of Law programme to address crimes against women, improve working conditions for women police officers, and encourage more women to join the police service.” He also thanked KP Police and the EU for their long-lasting partnership to shape safer and more peaceful communities in KP.

For additional information, please contact Fizza Bangash at fizza.bangash@undp.org or +92 (51) 835 5631

About the Project:

The 20 Million Euro  “Deliver Justice Programme”, is funded by the EU and aims to support reform processes to ensure the delivery of people-centred justice, enhance access to justice for all, particularly women and less privileged groups, and improve service delivery of the security sector in line with constitutional safeguards and international standards in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Merged Districts and Balochistan. The programme is funded by the EU and jointly implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The UNDP Rule of Law Programme is implementing a range of interventions to enhance security and justice sector governance in Pakistan.

About UNDP:

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet.

Learn more at undp.org

European Union and UNDP partner with Government of Pakistan to launch Huqooq-e-Pakistan II for Human Rights Advancement

Islamabad, 09 December 2024 — The European Union (EU) in partnership with the Government of Pakistan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) jointly commemorated the International Human Rights Day with the launch of its flagship human rights Huqooq-e-Pakistan II (HeP II) project.

This EU-funded initiative builds on the first phase (2019–2022) and aims to support key Pakistani actors in promoting, protecting, and fulfilling human rights across the country.

Being the second phase of the project, the EU continues to show its strong commitment to strengthening the human rights ecosystem in Pakistan. In her welcome address, H.E. Riina Kionka, Ambassador of the European Union to Pakistan, reiterated the nexus between human rights, peace, and economic prosperity indicating that “human rights are the stepping stone of development and prosperity in all of its dimensions.”

In his closing reflections, Dr. Samuel Rizk, Resident Representative UNDP Pakistan, thanked the Government of Pakistan and the EU for their support in making HeP II possible. Marking Human Rights Day, he acknowledged both the challenges and the progress on human rights in Pakistan, highlighting “the contributions of Pakistan’s human rights champions and defenders across all sectors and backgrounds.”

HeP II focuses on four key strategic areas: i) partnering with the government for strengthened human rights implementation and reporting; ii) working with human rights institutions to fortify their role as watchdog bodies; iii) collaborating with universities to promote human rights education; and iv) engaging the private sector to strengthen the role of businesses in protecting human rights.

While speaking about the role of the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) as Pakistan’s watchdog institution and first A-status accredited National Human Rights Institution (NHRI), Chairperson Rabiya Javeri Agha commented that, “There is an urgent need to strengthen human rights in Pakistan. NCHR looks forward to this partnership to protect and promote the rights of the most marginalized, including those affected by the intersection of climate vulnerability, gender inequality, and poverty.”

The Federal Minister for Human Rights, Azam Nazeer Tarar opened the event by expressing the government’s commitment to meeting its human rights obligations and highlighted Pakistan’s progress on human rights, including “efforts to strengthen gender equality, curtail child marriage, and empower transgender persons.” He noted the importance of all stakeholders working together in silos to strengthen human rights in Pakistan.

For further details, please contact:

• Samar Saeed Akhtar, Press and Information Officer, samar-saeed.akhtar@eeas.europa.eu, Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan
• Fizza Bangash, Head of Communications, fizza.bangash@undp.org, UNDP Pakistan

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet.

Learn more at undp.org or follow at @UNDP.