Transcript The Inclusion of Displaced Populations in Civil Registration and

Improved Civil Status Information for Efficient Public
Administration and Generation of Statistics for National
Development and MDGs Monitoring in Africa
10-12 August 2010
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The Inclusion of
Forcibly Displaced Persons
in Civil Registration and Vital Statistics
Forcibly Displaced Persons
 In the last few decades the African continent has witnessed large
scale forced displacement of people fleeing persecution, armed
conflict or human rights violations.
End of 2009: more than 10 million people of concern to
UNHCR in Africa (some 2.3 million refugees, 325,000
asylum-seekers, 150,000 returnees, more than 6.3 million
IDPs (there are 11.6 million IDPs in Africa) and an
estimated 100,000 stateless people.)
 Forcibly displaced persons in Africa live in refugee and IDP
camps as well as in urban areas, or are trapped in conflict areas
increasingly in protracted situations e.g Somali refugees in
Kenya; Rwandan refugees in D.R.Congo; Sudanese refugees in
neighbouring countries – Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt
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Civil Registration and Forcibly Displaced Persons
Forcibly Displaced persons
often do not have access to
Civil Registration documents.
For instance many refugees lack:
 Birth Certificates
 Marriage and Divorce
Certificates
 Death Certificates
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Barriers to Civil Registration of forcibly displaced
populations
 In conflict situations breakdown of infrastructure, insecurity may
prevent normal access to Civil Registration.
 Physical barriers: lack of services /infrastructure in rural and camp
areas.
 Economic barriers: registration fees and cost to travel to towns to
register.
 Lack of awareness of the importance of civil registration.
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Barriers to Civil Registration of forcibly displaced
populations
 Legal issues: For refugees, absence of laws that allow civil
registration for non-nationals.
 If not yet recognized as refugees/asylum seekers reluctance to
approach civil authorities to register their births, marriages, deaths,
etc. due to fear deportation or detention
As results of this, UNHCR’s global baseline data from early 2009
reveal that the level of birth registration among the forcibly displaced
is unacceptably low. In Africa, out of 70 camps that availed
information on birth registration only 33 or 33 per cent systematically
registered all newborns.
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Importance of Civil Registration of the forcibly
displaced
Civil Registration as a means to:
 Obtain information and knowledge about the population within
national territory to improve State’s administration and governance.
 Obtain indicators for the measurement of progress towards the
achievement of the MDGs. Displaced persons are an important
factor for the achievement of the MDGs.
 Determine where to integrate services for host communities and
displaced populations to ensure more effective delivery of services.
 Facilitate, in the medium and long term, the return of refugee / IDP
populations to their areas of origin (e.g. proves family links, may
facilitate resolution of land disputes, etc).
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Importance of Civil Registration
 Pre-empt / avoid legal disputes
which may later come to
burden State’s legal system
(e.g. inheritance).
 Gather information on broader
migration issues and seek
improved State’s management
of migratory movements.
 Facilitate people’s access to
basic rights: education, health,
employment, etc.
 To prevent Statelessness.
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Protection risks due to the lack of Civil Registration of
forcibly displaced populations
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Detention and Deportation.
Denial of access to education, health services and employment.
Prevention from reacquiring property upon return to areas of origin.
Failure to prove age of girls in order to protect them against early
marriages and exploitation.
 Lack of freedom of movement due to the absence of identification
documents.
 People remain “Invisible to the Law” and may not benefit from the
State’s protection.
 Protracted periods without civil documentation placing many at risk
of becoming stateless.
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BIRTH REGISTRATION as a protection tool
 Birth Registration is an essential child protection tool
preventing abuses against children: child labor, early marriage,
illegal adoption, sexual exploitation, recruitment into armed
forces/group and human trafficking.
 Birth Registration is fundamental for the prevention of
statelessness: although birth registration does not normally
confers nationality it constitutes a key form of proof of the link
between an individual and a State and thereby serves to
prevent statelessness.
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Birth registration – Legal Instruments
 Every child has the right to be registered at birth as recognized
inter alia in:
 Article 27 of the 1951 Refugee Convention Relating to the Status of
Refugees
 Article 13 of the 2009 Kampala Convention for the Protection and
Assistance of IDPs in Africa
 Article 7 of the 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child
 Article 24 paragraph 2 of the International 1966 Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights
 Article 6 of the African Charter on the 1990 Rights and Welfare of
the Child
 The UN General Assembly has urged States to intensify efforts in
the area of birth registration.
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Birth Registration of refugee children- UNHCR’s
initiatives
 UNHCR has included as one of its 2010-2011 Global Strategic
Priorities the need for individual and civil documentation of
refugees, asylum seekers and stateless as an essential protection
measure.
 Advocacy: In 2007, the Angolan Ministry of Justice, in
collaboration with the Jesuit Refugee Service and UNHCR,
implemented an awareness raising campaign that resulted in
issuance of birth certificates by registration brigades to some
100,000 Angolan returnee children. In addition, education
campaigns to sensitize the refugees on the importance of acquiring
a birth certificate and the necessary procedures they must follow
have been implemented in Ghana and DRC.
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Birth Registration - UNHCR’s initiatives
 Technical support to national authorities:
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In Kenya (Daadab camp) UNHCR is providing the necessary means for Government
officials to go to the camps every month to deliver birth certificates to refugees.
o Newborn babies delivered in hospitals provided with Birth Notification.
o Parents are informed of the next visit of the Civil Registrar to the camp.
o Upon visit to Civil Registrar, parents present Birth Notification and apply for Birth
Certificate.
o For late registration, applicants fill a Late Registration Form which is signed by
local authorities, the doctor and UNHCR confirming the identity of the child. The
form is then issued to the Civil Registrar who will process it and issue the Birth
Certificate.
In Somalia UNHCR has provided funding in order to reduce the cost of birth
certificates and make it more accessible.
 A UNHCR Executive Committee Conclusion on Birth Registration
is under consideration calling States for the adoption of laws and
policies on birth registration that ensure timely and compulsory birth
registration for all children within their national territory.
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Recommendations
 Adoption of laws and policies to ensure timely and compulsory
birth registration for all children, including refugee and IDP children,
within the national territory.
 Introduction of late registration procedures for those who were
not registered immediately at birth, in particular through flexible
requirements of proof and without additional fees.
 Guarantee of equal access to birth registration for all persons,
regardless of nationality, immigration status or marital status of the
parents, in particular for children born to single mothers.
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Recommendations
 Facilitation of access to civil registration at local level, for
example, through mobile registration units, integrating birth
registration with other public programmes -such immunization and
education campaigns- or waiving of registration fees for all forms of
civil registration.
 Enhancement of capacities of relevant state and community
actors, notably civil registry officials, judges, local authorities, health
care and education providers and community leaders.
 Cooperation between relevant State entities, United Nations Funds
and Programmes (notably UNHCR, UNICEF, UNFPA), development
agencies and civil society on the promotion of birth registration and
on the recognition of birth attestations issued by these organizations
while children are waiting to be officially registered by relevant State
authorities.
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Recommendations
 Awareness raising of procedures and importance of birth
registration, in particular through community outreach programmes
that take into consideration potential barriers to registration.
 Promotion of exchange of global best practices.
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THANK YOU
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