The right to be recognised as a person before the law 1

Recognition as a person before the law protects an individual’s ability to ‘vote, marry or secure formal employment… obtain a driver’s license, to open a bank account, to have access to social security or a pension, to obtain insurance or a line of credit, and, significantly, to be able to register one’s own children.’ Denial of the right can lead to enforced or involuntary disappearances, statelessness, early and forced marriage, trafficking, child labour and the sale of children. It also affects access to the right to education and right to health.

Source: OHCHR, Birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law (2014) A/HRC/27/22 para 17, 18–32.