Your invitation to the international roundtable
A guaranteed legal identity is a prerequisite for the most excluded people to access their rights and build peaceful and inclusive societies. ATD Fourth World, like many other organisations, is witness to the plight of many children and adults who suffer the consequences of not having a birth certificate or an identity document. The lack of civil status documents pushes fragile families further into poverty. It disrupts their lives and affects their socio-economic development.
Abraham, from the Central African Republic, has not been allowed to sit his exams at school because he does not have a birth certificate. Discouraged, he did not continue his studies. He says:
“Not having a birth certificate is like not existing as a child, as a human being.”
For years, ATD Fourth World has been supporting disadvantaged families in the process of obtaining civil status documents, particularly birth certificates. Families in extreme poverty and ATD teams working alongside them have identified a certain number of obstacles including: a lack of knowledge about its importance, the long distances to the nearest registration facility, or the fees involved in late registration. Institutional procedures can seem complicated and sometimes discriminate against children from certain socio-economic, ethnic, or religious backgrounds. Cultural practices can also deter formal birth registration processes or undermine a mother’s ability to register her child without the father’s involvement.
Aboubacar Sidiki Ouédraogo, a young person living on the streets in Burkina Faso said: “Children may want to ask for an identity document, but the authorities give them a hard time. They end up getting discouraged. […] It took me five months to get my document, instead of the two weeks originally specified by the authorities. There’s another problem. You can come and start proceedings, but they won’t deal with you in the order you arrived. Anyone who gives a certain amount of money will be received before you and that’s also a challenge.”
On the occasion of the 2024 International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and the tenth bi-annual meeting of the International Committee for October 17, ATD Fourth World and the International Committee for October 17, will be organising an international roundtable entitled “I WAS BORN — I EXIST — ADD ME TO THE LIST”. The roundtable will be a hybrid event with an in-person meeting in Dakar, Senegal and online global participation. You are all warmly invited to join.
In the first panel entitled: Lived Experiences, children, young people, and their families from around the world (Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Haiti, Philippines, Senegal, and Tanzania) will discuss the multiple barriers they face in obtaining birth certificates and how lack of legal identity impacts on exercising their basic human rights. In the second panel: Accelerating Progress Towards Universal Birth Registration, representatives of governments, regional and international organisations, and civil society actors will respond to questions on improving policies and practices that will reach out to the furthest behind. The roundtable will conclude with recommendations aimed at overcoming barriers to birth registration and forging partnerships to achieve universal birth registration and legal identity for all by 2030, in alignment with SDG 16.9.
Niek Tweehuysen, ATD Fourth World regional coordinator for Africa says:
“We want to be ambitious, we want to work together with partners and make a difference for people living in poverty when it comes to legal existence and birth certificates.”
Leaving no one behind starts with registering the births of every child. Join us in person or online on 17 October. Simultaneous interpretation in English/French/Spanish.