A select group of children and youth representatives in Asia and the Pacific will present their unified voice on the matter of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) this coming November 12, 2021 in a virtual event.

The activity, dubbed as Count Us in the Picture: Voices of Children and Youth in Asia Pacific on CRVS, will be a side event of the upcoming 2nd Ministerial Conference on CRVS in Asia and the Pacific, a high profile conference attended by government leaders and other decision makers and experts.

During the event, participants will share key messages developed through a series of consultations with other children and youth in the region. They will deliver these messages to an audience that includes representatives from youth groups, civil society organisations, government units, UN agencies, as well as other CRVS stakeholders.

The participants hope that their key messages and their unified call to action would be taken into account throughout the decision-making process and political commitments at the 2nd Ministerial Conference.

This side event will be part of a joint effort to help address the region’s lack of birth registration, which affects around 135 million children under the age of five.

The Count Us in the Picture event organized by the children and youth representatives themselves, along with partner organisations namely Child Rights Coalition in Asia (CRC Asia), World Vision International, and UN Economic and Social Commission in Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP).