This warm-up session was organized by ESCAP, UNHCR, World Vision and CRC Asia. It took place online on 17 November 2021, from 12:45 to 13:30 hrs, Bangkok time, before opening Agenda item 4 of the provisional agenda.

Overview:

This background document for the session provides an overview of how civil registration and vital statistics in Asia and the Pacific is related to the Agenda for Sustainable Development. It also discusses how progress in civil registration and vital statistics can be used as an accelerator for progress towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals to ensure no one is left behind. Progress in implementation of the Regional Action Framework is assessed with a development agenda lens, in particular the need to address disparities in the civil registration coverage of hard-to-reach and marginalized populations, including people living in rural, remote, isolated or border areas, minorities, indigenous people, migrants, non-citizens, asylum-seekers, refugees, stateless people, and people without documentation, as well as people living with disabilities. In this regard, the mid-term assessment results from the Asia and Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Decade are examined including registration completeness and inequality assessments with recommendations for the way forward in the second half of the decade.

Purpose: 

The purpose of the session 4 was to provide member states and partners with various states’ good practices in achieving universal registration. The warm-up session featured the multisectoral collaboration in the Philippines in improving birth registration among indigenous Sama Bajau who live in remote areas, and gave the voice to a representative from Sama Bajau community to speak their mind. During the main session, member states as well as a regional institution i.e., ASEAN-ACWC shared experiences and highlighted areas of efforts for continued assessing and addressing of inequalities during the second half of the Asia and Pacific Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Decade.