OUAGADOUGOU, 4 May 2009 (IRIN): More than five million people in Burkina Faso, mostly women and children, are expected to receive free birth certificates as part of a one-year, 5 million US dollar government programme.
– A birth certificate is tremendously important because it testifies to the legal existence of the individual, André Dembélé, the head of the government’s committee on birth certificates, told IRIN. He said the committee has asked “husbands to allow their wives to return to their birth villages” in order to be documented.
Human cost
It is difficult to enforce laws against child trafficking, marriage and labour without proof of age, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
– If the child has no proof of age, it is very easy she will be given in marriage, said Sylvana Nzirorea, UNICEF’s deputy representative in Burkina Faso. She told IRIN girls are married as early as 10 years old in the region.
While she said it will take much more than legal documents to curb a long-standing tradition, Nzirorea said certificates are a starting point.
– Improved enforcement of standing laws is needed [to fight child marriage], and birth certificates are one measure that will help, Nzirorea told IRIN.
She said legal identification will also help officials enforce anti-trafficking laws that prevent children who are traveling without their parents from leaving Burkina Faso.
Certificates are also required to attend school and to receive other government-funded services. Some three million children, 60 percent of whom are girls, were not listed in civil registries, according to the 2006 census.
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