Most babies in Mozambique are still denied their ”membership card” to society, because they are not registered at birth, the United Nations’ Children’s Fund, Unicef, said on Monday.
Speaking at the launch of a registration drive in the country, Unicef’s Maputo representative, Marie-Pierre Poirier, said birth registration was a fundamental right all children were entitled to because it was the first legal acknowledgement of their existence.
”Hence, a birth certificate is one of the most important pieces of paper a person will ever own.
”Unregistered children lack the most basic protection against abuse and exploitation, and may become attractive to child traffickers, who seek to take advantage of their non-status,” she added.
On the other hand, a birth certificate opened the door to a whole range of other rights including education and health care, she said.
”This is of crucial importance for all children, especially for orphans and other children made vulnerable by HIV/Aids, and for street children. We encourage the government of Mozambique to strengthen the registration system and to remove all barriers that prevent parents from getting their child registered”, she added.
Speaking at a school in Maputo on Monday, the African Union’s (AU) ”Day of the African Child,” she reminded guests, including government ministers that 2003 had been dedicated to the promotion of birth registration by the AU.
Unicef said it was difficult to estimate how many people did not have a birth certificate in Mozambique.
From 2000 to 2002 the number of people registered increased from 145 000 to 244 000 per year.
According to the National Directorate of Registration and Notary, between 70 and 80% of those were children. However around 765 000 babies are born in the country annually. – Sapa