Monday, May 25, 2009

Update...

Photo: Russian birth certificate Source: Wikipedia

The July 2nd 2008 'Registered Identity' entry very briefly touched on the issue that in many poor countries the percentage of inhabitants with birth certificates is extremely low (with negative 'knock on' effects e.g. see below), and that Afghanistan was making an effort to register its population. Now, Burkina Faso has started a twelve month campaign to get an estimated five and a half million people, mostly women and children,registered. This effort is being supported by UNICEF...


One example of problems caused by a lack of birth certificates and registrations (from UNICEF):

Children’s right to be registered at birth and their right to a name and identity are formally recognized by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Birth registration is instrumental in safeguarding other human rights because it provides the official ‘proof’ of a child’s existence. This documentation is crucial, especially during times of armed conflict or civil unrest. The ‘invisibility’ of non-registered children increases their vulnerability and the risk that violations of their rights will go unnoticed. Providing children with birth registration during and after conflict is, therefore, a matter of urgent priority. The urgency and importance of birth registration during emergencies was tragically demonstrated following the powerful tsunami that slammed into the coasts of India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Seychelles andSomalia in December 2004, killing thousands of people and leaving hundreds of thousands of children and their families homeless. The most immediate task was to identify and register unaccompanied and separated children and trace their family members, working closely with hospitals, communities, police and local authorities. Reuniting children with family and extended family members in emergency situations is the best way to provide children with safety, security and care, and birth certificates and other documents of identification are essential to reunification efforts. While tracing efforts were underway, a well-intentioned outpouring of support from around the world included expressed interest in adopting children affected by the emergency. However, in the course of registration and tracing it was determined that, in fact, very few children who survived the tsunami lost their parents, and most of those children were taken in locally by extended family and friends. Another risk was traffickers who sought, in the aftermath of the disaster, to move unaccompanied children to international destinations – for adoption, but also for child labour and sexual exploitation. It was therefore a top priority to identify children and register them as quickly as possible...

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