At least 200,000 children including the repatriated, displaced and vulnerable are expected to be registered in a campaign launched by the Government of Burundi in partnership with UNICEF this June 13, 2018.
Jeremy Hopkins: “Parents have no excuse for depriving children of their rights”
Jean Bosco Maneno, Director General of Territory Administration at the Ministry of Interior, has said the campaign has been launched so as to allow children and adults to have their legal rights. “Anyone who is not registered is not recognized by the law. They legally don’t exist and miss all the legal rights they were supposed to have,” he says.
He says even the government needs to know the exact number of people living in the country. “For instance, the government can use the number of registered people to know who are living in the country. When there are some who are not registered, the information given is not correct,” he says.
Mr Maneno says the campaign will begin in 13 provinces of the country namely Bujumbura and other bordering provinces that receive a lot of repatriated people. “These are the provinces that have the highest rate of non-registered people,” he says, adding that the campaign will last for 6 months.
Jeremy Hopkins, Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund-UNICEF, calls on all parents to register their children at birth. “It is a parental responsibility and obligation that must be done within 15 days after birth, according to the Burundian law, “he says.
He says parents have no excuse for depriving children of their rights. “It is up to each parent to do their part. The distance between registry offices and parents’ residence is not an excuse to deprive their child of their fundamental rights,” he says.
The national campaign is intended for children and adults who could not be registered within the 15 day-period given by the government for births to be recorded in registry offices.
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