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National
Identity for Zimbabwean Children
Child
Protection Society (CPS)
July 02, 2002
In Zimbabwe,
a number of children are graduating into adulthood without a civil
identity. Lack of such registration prevents these children from
realising and exercising their rights as human beings, such as rights
to education, other vital forms of registration, employment, open
a bank account, accessing insurance benefits, registering their
own children, and voting. In a study carried out by SNV – Netherlands
Development organisation, in association with the National Employment
Council for the Agricultural Industry in Zimbabwe in Makoni District
(1999) it was found that 76% of children on farms do not have birth
certificates. Yet, 90% of the parents of these children are citizens
of Zimbabwe. 34% of the adults interviewed had no birth certificates.
In another national registration programme carried out in the rural
areas of Beitbridge and Plumtree by Plan International, it came
out that half the children did not have birth certificates. CPS
has also discovered that in Tafara, an average of 44% of children
from 0 – 18 did not have birth certificates in 2001.
Zimbabwe
is a signatory to a number of UN International Conventions and protocols,
including the International Convention on the Rights of Children
(I.C.R.C.) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of
the Children. Article 7.1 of the ICRC states that "The child
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/
her parents".
In
article 8, section 1 states:
"Parties
undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or
her identity, including nationality, name of family relations
as recognised by law without unlawful interference,"
And
section 2 states:
"Where
a child is illegally deprived of some or all the elements of his
or her identity, states parties shall provide appropriate assistance
and protection, with a view to speedily re-establishing his or
her identity".
As
a signatory to this Convention, the Zimbabwean government recognises
these rights. In 1986 the government enacted the Birth and Death
Registration Act (Chapter 5:02) to facilitate the realisation of
the right to civil identity by all Zimbabweans.
What
does the Birth and Death Registration Act (BDRA) provide for?
- Section 10
of the BDRA states that:
Subject to
this Act, notification and registration of the birth, stillbirth
or death of any person, which occurs in Zimbabwe after the 20th
June, shall be compulsory.
- Section II
places responsibility of notification of a birth on the following
people:
- The occupier
of a house in which the birth occurred (if s/he had knowledge
concerning the birth.
- the person
in charge of a hospital or other institution in which the
birth occurred
- The headman
of the community in which the birth occurred.
- Any person
who has attained the age of 18 years present at the birth
- Any person
who has attained the age of 18 years having charge of the
child.
- Any other
person as may be prescribed;
To give
notice of birth ………………….. In the prescribed form to the registrar
of the district in which the birth occurred.
- Notice of
a birth shall be given within 42 days from the date of birth (section
11:2).
- …………….. no
person shall be required to give information acknowledging himself
to be the father of the child born out of wedlock, except -
- upon
the joint request of the mother and the person acknowledging
himself to be the father of the child: or
- if the
mother of the child is dead or has abandoned or deserted the
child, upon the request of the person acknowledging himself
to be the father of the child;
- if the
alleged father of the child is dead, upon the joint request
of the child’s mother and a parent or near relative of the
alleged father.
The
Child Protection Society undertook eight workshops in Harare, Mutare,
Bulawayo and Zvishavane, to find out why children were not registered,
to sensitise mothers and fathers on the importance of registering
their children, as well as influence key local leaders such as chiefs,
headmen, councilors, school heads, to lobby local parliamentarians
on the issue of birth registration. In these, they identified the
following hindrances to acquisition of birth certificates by children:
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Administration
Hindrances
~
tedious bureaucratic system
~
cost of bringing witnesses to cater for registration
~
lack of co-operation on the part of some of the processing
officers
~
high costs of travelling to registry offices due to multiple
trips.
~
Time spent in obtaining the documents (long queues and multiple
trips)
~
Lack of adequate information for the general public in what
is
required to obtain a birth certificate.
~
Inadequate mobile outreach services
~
Lack of knowledge on the importance of birth certificates
on the
part of parents and the general public.
Legislative
Hindrances
~
the act does not recognise birth registration as a right
~
discretional authority vested with the Registrar General’s
Office gives room to inconsistency.
~
the current BDRA does not make it mandatory for the office
of the Registrar General to publicise, clear birth registration
procedures.
~
there is a notable absence of a clear grievance handling and
structure open for clients to make complains.
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Since
2000, CPS has been working on this project to influence changes
within the implementation of the Birth and Death Registration Act
(Chapter 5.02), as well as a review of the Act itself. Lobbying
of Parliamentarians and Policy makers within the Ministries of Health
and Child Welfare, Home Affairs, Education, and Justice continued
in January 2002, and signs are that birth registration is likely
to be child friendly in the near future!
So
far, this work is being done in conjunction with:
- Bethany
Trust,
- Farm
Community Trust,
- Department
of Social Welfare,
- Department
of Immigration,
- SOS
Children’ Villages,
- SNV Netherlands,
- Scripture
Union Thuthuka,
- RUDO,
- the Chiefs’
Council,
- NASCOH,
- Zimbabwe
Council of Churches,
- Zimbabwe
Women Lawyers’ Association,
and
- the Junior
Parliament.
Please support
us in the process. We need to ensure that every child is registered
without any difficulty!
Contact
Information
packs on this issue are available. For these and any other information
contact Child Protection’s Advocacy Department on 708829/780079/710024-5.
You can also e-mail us on advocacy@mweb.co.zw.
Visit the Child
Protection Society fact
sheet
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
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