Birth registration campaign launched in Pakistan
Pakistan Times Monitoring Desk

ISLAMABAD: Birth registration ratio is unsatisfactory in Pakistan. Only 20% births are registered in the country, said NADRA Chairman Brig (Retd) Moeen while speaking at the International Birth Registration Campaign launched by Plan Pakistan on Thursday. The event was part of international launch being celebrated in 40 countries worldwide.

Brig Moeen mentioned that NADRA and other partners are implementing birth registration projects in NWFP, Punjab, Sindh, and Baluchistan. In Lahore, for instance, he mentioned the work is going on and NADRA has registered 71208 births in the past two months. NADRA has managed to impart 4 weeks of successful training to 319 secretaries Union Councils in the districts of Sialkot and Lahore in the province of Punjab.

We have decided to continue this training programme in the entire Province of Punjab. The Punjab Government is shortly launching a BR project by computerizing all union councils of the Province, PC-1 of which has already been approved, Chairman NADRA added.

Plan Pakistan Country Director Dr Purnima Chattopadhayay-Dutt said that over 50 million children a year around the world are never registered. This in turn will have implications on their lives, future and on the country they are from. Without a birth certificate, a child may have difficulty in access to basic rights such as to education and healthcare.

In a number of countries a child requiring vaccinations will be turned away from the health centre if they can not produce a birth certificate. She further reiterated that to address this issue of low birth registration, advocacy and awareness-raising efforts are required at local as well as national level. For this, Plan is working with Local Government Departments, NADRA, and international partners to improve the registration systems and raise awareness of all the concerned.

She mentioned about the success of Plan Pakistan initiatives in NWFP where birth registration ratio was enhanced from 20% to 86% within three year years.

Those without birth certificates, she said, are vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. If a child is trafficked across a country border to work, how can they prove they are too young if they have no birth certificate? Children without birth certificates can find it almost impossible to prove their nationality.

They are far more likely to grow up without access to education, health care, civil rights or proper protection. The issues of early marriages and juvenile justice are other issues which are directly linked with the birth registration.

Director National Commission for Child Welfare and Development (NCCWD) Mohammed Hassan Mangi appreciated the efforts of the Plan Pakistan and said that government is fully committed to safeguarding the child rights. Giving the chronological background of the BR in Pakistan he said in 1964 the government had mandatory birth registration system. In those days BR ratio remained 30-35 % in urban and 10-20 % in rural areas that still persists.

He said the prime minister has banned corporal punishment, child labour, child abuse and all kinds of exploitation based on gender, race and religion. A main hurdle, he noted, in implementing Juvenile Justice System Ordinance remains non-availability of exact age proof which is directly related to birth registration. He also pointed out that no data on BR is available due to absence of a systematic connection between union councils and districts and higher echelons.●