ABSTRACT

Research on the global growth of digital identification programs has been largely silent on the implications for children and on birth registration. We conducted a mixed methods study with children, caregivers, and service providers in the Indian city of Varanasi to examine access to, and perceptions of, birth registration and Aadhaar. Findings show enrollment in Aadhaar far exceeds birth registration for both children and their caregivers, and that many respondents believe that Aadhaar enrollment is mandatory, and equates to securing proof of citizenship. Respondents described similar challenges with birth registration and Aadhaar, including that both can be falsified to support child labor and child trafficking. We suggest that promoting Aadhaar enrollment over birth registration undermines the critical role of birth registration in providing the state with comprehensive and actionable public health data. Links between birth registration and Aadhaar should be strengthened and their role in advancing child protection more closely examined.

摘要

关于数字识别计划全球增长的研究在很大程度上未提及对儿童的影响以及对出生登记的影响。我们与印度瓦拉纳西市的儿童，照料者和服务提供者进行了混合方法研究，以研究出生登记和Aadhaar的获取和感知。调查结果表明，Aadhaar的入学人数远远超过了子女及其照顾者的出生登记，许多受访者认为Aadhaar的入学情况是强制性的，等同于获得公民身份证明。受访者描述了出生登记和Aadhaar面临的类似挑战，包括可以伪造两者以支持童工和贩运儿童的挑战。我们建议，促进Aadhaar登记出生登记会破坏出生登记在向该州提供全面且可行的公共卫生数据方面的关键作用。应加强出生登记和Aadhaar之间的联系，并应更仔细地研究它们在促进儿童保护方面的作用。