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DRC: Kabila launches national birth registration
campaign
NAIROBI, 17 June (IRIN) - President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has launched a nationwide campaign to promote the registration of births in the country, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported on Monday. The launch coincided with the annual Day of the African Child, observed on 16 June. Birth registration is the permanent and official record of a child's existence. At present, only an estimated 34 percent of births are registered in the DRC, UNICEF reported. It said that birth registration was fundamental to the realisation of a number of rights and needs such as providing access to health care and immunisation; ensuring that children enroll in school at the right age and enforcing laws relating to minimum age for employment. Registration is also important in countering the problem of girls being forced into marriage before they are legally eligible, without proof of age, UNICEF said. It would also ensure that children in conflict with the law received special protection, and that young people would be protected from underage military service or conscription and from harassment by police or other law enforcement officials. Moreover, birth registration would secure the child's right to a nationality; protect children who are trafficked and who are eventually repatriated and reunited with family members. The agency said that getting a passport, opening a bank account, obtaining credit, voting or finding employment would be made easier by registration of births. "In addition to issues relating to protection, a functioning system of birth and civil registration ensures that the country has an up-to-date and reliable database for planning," UNICEF said. "This is as useful for national level planning as it is for local government bodies that are responsible for maintaining education, health and other social services for the community." UNICEF attributed the failure to register births in the DRC to several factors such as a general lack of awareness of its importance; long distances between villages and government offices, and the fact that registration after the first 30 days costs US $2, a fee too high for many Congolese. At Kabila's request, a meeting among government officials and humanitarian agencies is due to be held on 16 July to discuss progress made in the registration campaign, scheduled to conclude officially on 20 November 2003. Under Article Seven of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children "shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents". The Convention, which entered into force on 2 September 1990, has been ratified by 191 countries to date, including the DRC. |
