A name. A right. A future.

In the small town of Kele, nestled in southern Ethiopia’s Amaro woreda, 13-year-old Awutaru holds a small but mighty piece of paper—his birth certificate.

For most Canadian children, a birth certificate is a rarely considered piece of paperwork, perhaps tucked in a filing cabinet until it’s time to apply for a passport. For Awutaru and thousands like him, it’s a shield. Until recently, he didn’t know he even needed one.

Awutaru’s family relies on subsistence farming and his father works as a gardener at the local government office, earning a modest income that barely covers their basic needs. Yet Awutaru feels fortunate. “I am a sponsored child and have been getting support from World Vision,” he says with a shy but proud smile.

Among other activities run through World Vision’s sponsorship program—like school improvements and savings groups for financial resilience—Awutaru’s family and community have been learning life-changing lessons about child protection, including the importance of registering a child's birth and obtaining a copy of their birth certificate. “I now understand my rights and feel more confident about my future,” he says.

Education on children’s rights and protection issues are especially needed here in Ethiopia, where human traffickers are known to exploit women and girls through domestic servitude and the sex trade—or boys and men through forced labour in industries like weaving, construction and agriculture. Recruiters often target young people and their families in Ethiopia’s rural areas, offering false promises of a better life in the city.

World Day Against Trafficking in Persons

Every year on July 30, the world observes World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. Human trafficking is a grave violation of human rights driven by organized crime, and it affects nearly every country worldwide. “More and more victims are being trafficked every year,” says the UN, “across greater distances, with greater violence, for longer periods of time and for greater profit.” While more than 200,000 victims were detected globally between 2020 and 2023, that number is considered “the tip of the iceberg.”

In disaster zones, children are especially vulnerable, as their families become displaced and financially desperate, without functioning systems to protect them.

When a missing document opens the door to exploitation

An important piece of armour in the fight against trafficking is birth registration.

Without a birth certificate, children are uncounted and invisible in the eyes of their government. This means they can’t register for school or access healthcare and other basic services, so their futures are limited from the start. Yet more threatening: without proof of age and existence, they become easy targets for early forced marriage, shady employers, human traffickers or armed groups recruiting fighters.

It's sobering to read that twenty per cent of the world’s children under five —150 million girls and boys—have never had their births recorded.

World Vision programs prioritize birth registration and community education

When World Vision partners with a community, one of the first things we often do is ensure children have proof of their existence. As you can read in World Vision Canada’s 2024 Annual Results Report, 36,688 children under 18 have received birth certificates over the past three years, thanks to supporters in Canada. This work aligns with Sustainable Development Goal 16.9, which aims to provide legal identity for all, including birth registration, by 2030.

Where Awutaru lives in Amaro, more than 4,000 sponsored children now have birth certificates, offering them not only a name and nationality but also access to education, healthcare and legal protection.

Widespread community education has complemented this push for documentation. For example, through World Vision’s partnership with local churches in the area, more than 150 faith leaders have been trained to promote child protection, ensuring the message reaches even the most remote households.

Awataru’s mom Misgun shares her experience. “World Vision taught us about child safety, labour, abduction and trafficking,” she explains. “When we know the risks, we know how to protect our children.”

Written by Katie Hackett, with notes from Tigist Taye.