With no birth certificates, 50 million kids grow up with no rights

Jakarta, 28 February. Up to 50 million children are in danger of not being able to access the most basic civil services due to the lack of a birth certificate, a study has found.

A baseline study on legal identity conducted by the Australia Indonesia Partnership for Justice and the Center for Child Protection at the University of Indonesia (Puskapa UI) released on Thursday found that 50 million children did not have birth certificates due to their parents’ poor knowledge about the procedure and a complicated bureaucracy.

“There was an assumption that people didn’t have proper documents because of poor awareness. However, our study found that 41 percent of the people we surveyed don’t have a birth certificates because of the additional cost,” Puskapa co-director Santi Kusumaningrum told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.

She said that with no birth certificates, children would be ineligible for access to education or health care.

The study confirmed previous data released by the Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry that said 50 million out of 78 million Indonesians under 18 did not have a birth certificate.

The study linked the connection between the existence of a legal identity with the opportunity for the children to finish their formal education.

In the poorest 30 percent of households children with a birth certificate are more likely to complete their basic 12 years of education.

The study also revealed that in the poorest households, a quarter of girls would be married by the age of 18.

The figure raises concerns considering that 96 percent of these girls do not have a birth certificate.

Australian ambassador Greg Moriarty said the study was conducted to help Indonesia meet its development targets.

“Australia will work together with Indonesia to increase the number of children, women and men with a legal identity. This will help remove a barrier to economic development, especially in poor households and in rural communities,” Moriarty said.

Santi said the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Home Affairs Ministry should prioritize the accuracy of civil registries.

“If the parents do not have a marriage certificate they later would need to come to at least three institutions to register their child’s birth. We need a more accurate registry to prevent this,” she said.

A birth certificate is required for a child to be enrolled in school, get a passport and, upon turning 17, apply for an ID card. (Dessy Sagita)

News source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com

Original news here.