The New Nation - Internet Edition

Bijan Lal Dev

Birth registration is an inherent human right It is the first official acknowledgement of an individual's existence in the state. It is an individual's status before the law and to the services provided by the state or any discipline. It is also the first legal step to ensure the right to 'a' name and a nationality. The Articles 6 and 7 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that children will be registered immediately after birth and will 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 the parents.

Birth registration is not one iota in Bangladesh so far law is concerned. It was made compulsory for all citizens in 1873 by promulgating The Births and Death Registration Act This was further strengthened by formulating The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1886.Yet only 7 to 10 percent of the total population has been registered so far as the people did not find any importance and utility of 124 years old Act The certificate was not required for any purpose that atracts or dictates peoples to have it

Taking these into consideration, the Government has amended the Act and enacted Births and Deaths Registration Act, 2004 making birth registration certificate mandatory to prove an individual's age establishing rights on some important utility services and basic needs. Having the birth registration certificate is now compulsory to get 16 basic services for every citizen as stated in the Article 18(3) of the Act These include 1) having passport, 2) in marriage registration, 3) get admission to educational institutions, 4) appointment in the government, non-government and autonomous organisations, 5) having driving licence, 6) preparation of voter list, 7) land registration, 8) opening bank account, 9) geting export and import licence, 10) geting permission to gas, water, telephone and electricity connection, 11) having tax identification number, 12) geting contract licence, 13) acquiring permission for building design, 14) geting the registration of motor vehicles, 15) geting trade licence, and 16) having national identity card. The Government made the Act effective from 3 July 2006 exempting individuals to show the birth registration certificate under the Act in order to verify their age effective up to 30 June 2007 which is now extended upto 31 December 2008.

The Government has planned to reach universal birth registration by 2008., Achieving the target, the Government has declared 3 July as the National Birth Registration Day to highlight the importance of birth registration for every child and adult in the country. Since 1 January 2009 the birth registration certificate will be the only legal age verification document as Article 18(3) of the Act will come into effect from that day.

Not only to get the above 16 utility services, the birth registration certificate is also very important in resisting early marriage, fraudulence, trafficking and child labour, safeguarding human rights and implementation of law for children. It would help in formulating policy at regional and national level, conducting survey, controlling crime and bringing back the irregular migrants from abroad. So, educated, uneducated, male, female, child all should have birth registration certificates. Making the mission a success, the Government is allowing everybody to register their birth free of cost by 2 July 2008.

The Government has targeted to ensure universal birth registration by 2008. If we could achieve one hundred percent birth registration, it would be easier to prepare an accurate voter list with photographs within a short time. The challenge is to send the message to average parents on how and why they should register their children. It needs combined efforts from all involved, a multi-pronged strategy and raising awareness among people. A strategy has been taken to achieve the goal. It includes raising awareness among the people on the importance of the birth registration, linking the birth registration to the already, existing permanent structures of education and immunisation. It provides facilities for the registration of newborn and children aged up to one year through immunisation services and the registration of children enrolled for primary and secondary education through educational institutions. The capacity of the volunteers who are visiting door to door for registration the children below 18 has been strengthening further through providing them training and guidance. People of 18 and above will be registered at the time of preparing voter lists. The Election Commission has agreed to provide its database to local government institutions for birth registration purposes. Publicity for the birth registration highlighting the positive sides of birth registration has been geared up. The Government is thus exploring all the avenues to make the programme a success. It should be realised that the birth registration certificate is an inseparable document in life. So, every citizen should have it right now.