From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
In order to avoid a stateless situation, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Nigeria, has issued birth certificates to under 17 children in New Kuchingoro and Durumi Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Camps in Abuja.
The registration which kicked off on Tuesday in partnership with the National Population Commission (NPC) and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), witnessed the registration of 370 children at the New Kuchingoro IDPs Camp, while 600 were registered yesterday in Durumi.
In his remarks, the Deputy Representative, UNHCR Nigeria, John Mckissick, said the initiative was a great one that on the 60th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on Reduction of Statelessness, they were in Abuja registering children who were at risk of statelessness by giving them a birth registration document.
Mckissick who noted that the registration was a little bit late for some of the children since it ought to have been done within sixty days after birth, said the requirement had been waved so that all the children can be registered.
“What a great way to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the 1961 Convention on Reduction of Statelessness which calls on countries to reduce statelessness by registering, giving birth certificates to children who were otherwise be at risk of statelessness.
“And why are these little kids at risk of statelessness? It is because their own mothers and fathers don’t have birth certificates themselves. So, we don’t know who are the mothers and fathers and where they come from.
“So, they are interviewing them, talking to them, finding out from them that the mothers and fathers of these children were also born in Nigeria. And then, they are giving these children also birth certificates which open up a lot of rights for them later on in life as Nigeria’s citizens – the right to go to school, the right for health care, the right to own land, the right eventually when they are grown up to own businesses – they all have to prove that they are Nigerians.
“So, this birth certificate really means a lot to them and I want to congratulate the country for signing those two conventions, the 1954 Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on Reduction of Statelessness.
“It is so important that Nigeria signed and really, it is a leader in Africa in terms of signing conventions dealing with human rights and getting rid of statelessness is a human right of all Nigerians. So, congratulations to Nigeria, ” Mckissick said.
The UNHCR scribe however called on Nigeria to also pass the domestication legislation so that what the country signed onto in the convention is actually nationalised.
Also speaking, a representative of the NPC, Mr Temidayo Matthew Sunday, said the programme was very important, not only to the government, but to the populace.
The Director, Civil Registration and Vital Statistics, added that for a while, Nigeria has been having the problem of statelessness, saying that the country needed to address the problem.
“And the immediate antidote to solving the problem of statelessness is getting children registered at birth because any child that is registered at birth and issued a certificate, that certificate gives that child an identity and a nationality upon which other identity management can be built on,” Matthew said.
Matthew also said any child that was not registered at birth, or subsequently, the child is lost and is without a name, maintaining that the government does not want such situation to happen.
