The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 17, an integral part of the 2030 Agenda, has a target to increase the timely availability of data regarding age, gender, race, ethnicity, and other relevant characteristics which documents like a birth certificate have the capacity to provide.In all countries, it is the responsibility of the mother's physician, midwife, hospital administrator, or the parent(s) of the child to see that the birth is properly registered with the appropriate government agency.That agency will issue certified copies or representations of the original birth record upon request, which can be used to apply for government benefits, such as passports.[5] ...it's a small paper but it actually establishes who you are and gives access to the rights and the privileges, and the obligations, of citizenship.Despite 191 countries ratifying the convention, the births of millions of children worldwide go unregistered.[9] Birth registration opens the door to rights to children and adults which many other human beings take for granted: to prove their age; to prove their nationality; to receive healthcare; to go to school; to take exams; to be adopted; to protection from underage military service or conscription; to marry; to open a bank account; to hold a driving licence; to obtain a passport; to inherit money or property; and to vote or stand for elected office.[10] There are many reasons why births go unregistered, including social and cultural beliefs and attitudes; alternative documents and naming ceremonies; remote areas, poor infrastructure; economic barriers; lack of office staff, equipment and training; legal and political restrictions; fear of discrimination and persecution; war, conflict and unrest or simply the fact that there is no system in place.In Senegal, the government is facilitating retrospective registration through free local court hearings and the number of unregistered children has fallen considerably as a result.However, birth certificates can be issued by any municipality or consulate on presentation of a family record book and are valid for 10 years.In 1963, the Department of National Defence started issuing birth certificates to dependents of Canadian Forces members born overseas.Persons born prior to that date can obtain a birth certificate from a Chinese notary public by way of presenting their hukou and other supporting documents.[51] Some municipalities, such as the Greater Chennai Corporation, allow for fully digital birth certificates to be applied for, printed, and verified online.The following Staatsbladen (state gazettes), enacted by the Dutch colonial government, were supplanted by the Act: Prior to 1986, persons not born in any of the above groups had to be registered through court order.Indonesian birth certificates are typically laminated like Malaysian and Singaporean ones; however, unlike Malaysia and Singapore, it is not done at the time of issuance by the civil registry.[59][60] In 2019, Indonesian local civil registrars began to issue birth certificates with QR codes in lieu of the traditional authenticating signature and stamp.[65][66] Birth records for children born to non-Japanese parents in Japan are not maintained permanently; usually only for the duration of ten years from the date of lodgement, but this varies from one city/ward/town office to another.Then-director Datin Jariah Mohd Said was reported as saying that "it [would] address the wrong impression among foreign parents that their children automatically become Malaysians by virtue of them having the pale green certificate."[68] Malaysian birth certificates are laminated at the time of issuance, forming an exception to most countries' need for an unlaminated document (e.g. the United Kingdom when applying for a passport).The National Population Commission (NPC) formed in 1992, is the only body responsible for registering births, and issuing certificates in the country.It is then signed and sealed by a qualified officer of the public authority issuing the certificate (a local civil registry or Russian overseas mission).Singaporean birth certificates are laminated at the time of issuance, forming an exception to most foreign countries' need for an unlaminated document (e.g. the United Kingdom when applying for a passport).Somali autonomous regions, such as Jubaland, Puntland, and Somaliland, have separate, functioning birth registration systems for those born within their respective jurisdictions.The Extract contains, inter alia, place and date of birth, parental information, marriage status, and current registered address.[94] The original registrations are required by law[95] to be issued in the form of certified copies to any person who identifies an index entry and pays the prescribed fee.[114] The U.S. National Center for Health Statistics creates standard forms that are recommended for use by the individual states to document births.These forms are completed by the attendant at birth or a hospital administrator, which are then forwarded to a local or state registrar, who stores the record and issues certified copies upon request.[2] According to the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, as of 2000[update] there were more than 6,000 entities issuing birth certificates.The Inspector General report stated that according to the staff at the Immigration and Naturalization Service's Forensics Document Laboratory the number of legitimate birth certificate versions in use exceeded 14,000.However, these birth certificates are not legally accepted as proof of age or citizenship, and are frequently rejected by the Bureau of Consular Affairs during passport applications.[124] Adopted persons in ten states have an unrestricted right to obtain a copy of the original birth certificate when they are adults: Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island.The department contends that the issuance of birth certificates is a function that is expressly reserved to local vital statistics authorities and may not be assumed by a consular officer.