(Newsletter: CRVS Insight March 2022)

Side event. Implementation of the UN Legal Identity Agenda, was organized in the margins of the 53rd Session of the UN Statistical Commission.

During the Statistical Commission, CRVS was discussed during agenda item 3(f). Several statemetns on CRVS were made from countries in Asia and the Pacific, including from New Zealand, Australia, Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Indonesia and India. 

The Commission also took a decision regarding CRVS: Decision 8: Civil registration, vital statistics and statelessness statistics (Item 3f)

In the decision, the Statistical Commission reiterated its call from its 51st session to implement the United Nations Legal Identity Agenda, namely, universal registration of all vital events, the production of regular, accurate and comprehensive vital statistics and ensuring legal identity for all from birth to death, as a matter of high priority, especially in the light of the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The commission also expressed concern regarding the negative impact of the pandemic on the availability and quality of vital statistics owing to interruptions in the functioning of national civil registration systems, and urged designating civil registration as an essential service and conforming to international standards.

The commission expressed its support for the work and activities of the Technical Advisory Group on COVID19 Mortality Assessment, welcomed its findings and outputs, and encouraged the Group to continue its work and continue to report to the Commission;

WHO informed the Commission of its intention to inaugurate a new international conference on health statistics. The first session is tentatively scheduled for the third quarter of 2023.