By Precious D. Freeman
UNICEF’s Representative to Liberia, Andy Brooks, is urging all Liberian children to register and get their birth certificate in order to record their existence.
According to him, birth registration is the process of recording a child’s birth and it is a permanent and official record of a child’s existence, and provides legal recognition of that child’s identity.
Making remarks during the commemoration of the Day of the African Child (DAC) in Liberia under the theme, “Education For All Children in Africa: The Time is Now” he added that, if the child is not registered at birth that means they do not exist, because they will not benefit from the plans of the government.
He furthered that historically, Liberia had a low level of birth registrations.
In 2007, birth registration rates were estimated at 4 or 5 percent. A field survey by the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in 2008 indicated that was not a properly working birth registration system in Liberia.
“We have come a long way but too many children are still slipping through the cracks, uncounted and unaccounted for, A child not registered at birth is invisible nonexistent in the eyes of the government or the law. Without proof of identity, children are often excluded from accessing education, health care and other vital services, vulnerable to exploitation and abuse,” Brooks stated.
To improve accessibility in Liberia, UNICEF supported integrated service delivery models of birth registration within health facilities and at county level through one-stop centers.
As of October 2019, over 112,000 children between the ages of 0-12 have been registered all over the country, including over 32,000 children below the age of 12 month and it is the highest number of registrations since 2016.
In Liberia, the birth registration is under the mandate of the Ministry of Health while UNICEF works closely on creating an enabling environment to expand the provision of services to 26 new births registration centers located in public and private hospitals.
Barriers to registration globally include lack of knowledge on how to register a child’s birth, unaffordable fees for registering a birth or obtaining a birth certificate, and distance to the nearest registration facility. Traditional customs and practices in some communities, such as new mothers staying indoors or single mothers’ inability to register their children, may also deter or prevent formal birth registration in the permitted timeframe.
The UNICEF Rep. is however urging governments to scale up proven solutions to improve birth registration, if they are to meet the Sustainable Development Goal target on making every child count.
Speaking further, the Minister of Gender and Children Protection, Gbemie Horace-Kollie, said the Day of the African Child (DAC) is an international campaign with an African appeal aimed at raising awareness about the plight of children in Africa, particularly the need for continuous improvement in education.
She explained that this year’s DAC theme, “Education For All Children In Africa: the time is now,” underscores the urgency of providing accessible and inclusive education opportunities for all children, irrespective of gender or circumstance.
According to her, the significance of this day stems from resolution No: CM/1290 of the Heads of States Summit of the former Organization of African Unity in Abuja, Nigeria, in June 1991 commemorates the tragic events of June 16, 1976, when hundreds of school children were massacred in Soweto, South Africa, while protesting against the inferior quality of their education and demanding the right to be taught in their own language.
In Liberia, despite some progress, there are still significant challenges in realizing the right to education for every child. The Human Capital Index for Liberia indicates that a child born today will only reach 32 percent of their full potential, below the sub-Saharan African average.
Gender Minister noted that this year’s DAC aims to remind stakeholders of their commitments to address the hurdles facing Liberia’s educational system and it provides an opportunity for parents, national and international partners, communities, and children to elevate the educational discourse, reaffirm commitments, mobilize resources, and take concrete actions.
According to UNESCO, a substantial percentage of children in Liberia are out of school, with various factors contributing to their exclusion, such as poverty, gender-based discrimination, violence, conflict, and displacement.
“The UNESCO’s alarming stats further revealed that 20% of children between 6 and 11, 30% of children between 12 and 14, and 60% of children between 15 and 17 years are out of School. Additionally, a 2022 quantitative survey, conducted by UNICEF on the status of children estimated that there are 126,702 children living in streets without going to school in Liberia,” Minister Kollie said.
