Article 24: Rights of the Child Birth Registration of Children 172. The Article 2 of the Law on Registration of Births and Deaths in Maldives (7/1992) requires that application for birth registration be made within 7 days of birth of the child. According to Article 6 of this law, the responsibility of registration lies with the father, the mother and with the closest guardian. Article 7, stipulates if birth registration is not done within the time frame as specified in article 2 of this law, then a penalty of MRF 05.00 (US$ 0.32) is charged from the parents and thereafter an additional MRF 1 (US$ 0.06) will also be charged from them for each exceeding day excluding public holidays. Article 8 (a) further states, application for birth certificate is to be presented to the relevant authorities within six months of child’s birth. Nevertheless, in 2009, the Maldives Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS) conducted by Ministry of Health revealed that “93 percent of children were registered, 89 percent had a birth certificate, and 3 percent were registered but did not have a birth certificate. Also, this survey indicated that coverage of birth registration varies between 86 percent in the South region and 97 percent in the North region.68” 174. Therefore, the importance of documenting birth registration, birth certificate and national identification number, by all stakeholders that deal with child rights issues is crucial in order to further assist in securing the identity of the child and to strengthen the coordination mechanism between all stakeholders working towards protection of rights of the child. It is significant to note that not all stakeholders, dealing with child abuse victims and children in conflict with law, document status of birth registration, birth certificate or national identification number. While, it is understood that services cannot be restricted to those children who do not have identification documents, it is important that the service providers work towards establishing a mechanism to provide identification to those children who do not have proper identification. Maintaining consistency in recording the disaggregated data on children amongst all stakeholders that deal with child rights issues would lay down concrete steps to preserve identity of the child and facilitate other entitlements for the child. Chapter: Article 24: Rights of the Child 173. A child’s birth registration, birth certificate or national identification number not only helps to protect the identity of the child It also facilitates access to other rights and entitlements for the child. Birth certificate is necessary to get enrolled in pre‐school and such details are required to apply for certain social benefits. Moreover, a national identification card is required to acquire free medical services from national health insurance scheme (Aasandha, January 1, 2012) established by the government. 66