CHAPTER TWO: LEGAL FRAMEWORKS ON BIRTH REGISTRATION 2.0 Introduction There are laws that govern birth registration at international, regional and national levels. At international and regional level there are instruments known as Conventions, Declarations, Recommendations and Treaties which enshrine agreed standards with regard to birth registration. Member states are bound by these instruments if they sign and ratify them. The international, regional and national legal frameworks regarding birth registration are briefly outlined below. 2.1 The International Law Relating to Birth Registration The international community first recognized birth registration as human right in 1948 with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in Articles 6 & 15. Article 6 of the UHDR provides that, “Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.” Article 15(a) provides that everyone has the right to a nationality. The above declaration was followed by International Convection on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which came into force in 1976 and in Article 24 provides that, 24 (2) “Every child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have a name”, and that “every child has the right to acquire a nationality” 24 (3) “Everyone has the right to acquire a nationality”. The Convention for the Rights of the Child (CRC) came into effect in 1990 and Zimbabwe ratified it in 1992. In Article 7 and 8 of this convention it is provided as follows: (7) “The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to name and the right to acquire nationality” (8) “State parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference where a child is deprived of some or all of the elements of his or her identity. 2.2. Regional Framework The 26th Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU adopted the African Charter in July 1990. Thereupon they committed themselves to upholding the rights, duties and obligations pertinent to the survival and protection of children. Children’s rights are articulated in the United Nations Convention on the Birth Registration Research Report/2007 19