Access to and use of civil registration by migrants and refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean
The absence or omission of legal identity can affect everyone regardless of age, and often impacts disproportionately on children including child migrants and refugees
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Highlights
Legal identity provides a person with recognition before the law, and without this access, other rights, such as education and health, is hindered. For people in human mobility processes, either because they lack documents in their countries of origin, or because they have lost them during their journey, or because they are not able to access the civil registry in the country the event occurred, they may find themselves in a situation of increased vulnerability and may be exposed to risks such as abuse, exploitation, trafficking and smuggling. Without documents, they may face obstacles in applying for a visa for a country, ensuring a family reunification or even accessing resources or services in a country.
Through a study of 20 countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean, this report identifies challenges and promising practices to facilitate migrants and refugees’ access to civil registration systems, and subsequently the certificates necessary to obtain legal status. It also identifies standards and good practices to facilitate and improve the use of and access to civil registration systems and vital statistics by migrants and refugees in Latin America and the Caribbean.
