In 2013, Coram International was contracted to conduct an extensive, multi-country assessment of the impact of universal birth registration at the micro level (for individual children and youth) and at the macro level (for the State). Thematically, the project focused upon the impact of birth registration in the areas of child labour, early marriage, juvenile justice and parental responsibility. This project included an extensive literature review of existing data and reports relating to the impact and potential benefits of birth registration, as well as qualitative primary research in four selected Plan programme countries: India, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Vietnam. The research was conducted in partnership with the International Observatory on Statelessness which was carrying out a complimentary quantitative analysis of existing data sets. Coram International was responsible for incorporating this quantitative analysis into a final report, which provided case studies from the selected Plan programme countries, as well as overarching findings and recommendations relating to birth registration.
From 2009 to 2011, Coram International engaged in groundbreaking research into the administrative detention of children, globally. The research involved extensive desk review of documents, including reports from the treaty monitoring bodies, as well as the development of qualitative questionnaires that were completed by UNICEF and NGO offices across the world, and, in-country field research in selected case study countries, including Bahrain (focusing on detention of girls for social rehabilitation), Burundi (focusing on the detention of children in the juvenile justice system), Guatemala (focusing on the detention of children living and working on the streets) and India (focusing on the detention of children for welfare purposes). The report itself focused on a number of key issues in administrative detention, including the administrative detention of children in need of care and protection, administrative detention for security purposes, administrative detention for immigration reasons, administrative detention within the juvenile justice system and administrative detention of children for health purposes. Other case studies were also developed through desk-based research, including Guantanamo Bay, immigration detention in the UK, administrative detention of girls in the MENA region and administrative detention of children in Tajikistan. The report was published and is available here.
Between 2007 and 2009, Coram International partnered with the Human Rights Centre, University of Essex and the Centre for the Study of Developing societies, Delhi, India on a project called “Realising Children’s Rights: Comparative Socio-legal Perspectives”, which aimed to strengthen educational links between India and the UK. As partners, the Coram International team delivered presentations at a conference held in Colchester, Essex, focusing on extra-territoriality of child protection laws and the prosecution in the UK of sex-tourists for acts committed in India and other destinations.