Birth certificates: a childs right to identity

Birth registration protects the fundamental rights of children to have their identity recognised. However, for many Indonesians, obtaining a birth certificate for their children is too difficult or expensive. UNICEF estimates that 60% of children under 5 years of age in Indonesia do not have a birth certificate, one of the lowest rates for any country in the region.

Not having a birth certificate can cause serious disadvantages to children in later life. In most districts, a birth certificate is required to register for school. Whilst some principals may overlook this, a birth certificate is still required to sit for the national examinations at the end of primary school.

AIPJ is working with a range of government institutions and civil society organisations to find ways of making birth certificates easier for parents to obtain. This work, which is a key part of the AIPJ’s Realizing Rights strategy, focuses on addressing the complex process and fees that are obstacles to obtaining birth certificates for many Indonesians.

Registration of a child within the first 60 days of birth is free. For registrations after the first year of birth, court documents and official letters must be obtained. For poor people in rural and remote areas, court fees of AUD 25 are more than half the monthly household income. For example, if a birth certificate case is heard in the General Court of Stabat in Sumatra, the court fee, summoning and transportation costs would be 1-2 times the monthly income of someone living on the poverty line.

In September 2012, to help address the issue, the Supreme Court of Indonesia issued a decree (SEMA No 6 of 2012) that simplifies the process for obtaining birth certificate statements for children over the age of one year. AIPJ supported this initiative by funding the consultations that informed the content of the SEMA, and the experts who prepared the SEMA in collaboration with the Supreme Court. Santi Kusumaningrum, Co-Director of the Center on Child Protection at the University of Indonesia, was one of the experts working on the consultation process: The decree allows for a simplified and standardized national mechanism for hearing birth registration cases, and it institutionalizes an inter-agency effort, especially with the Ministry of Home Affairs and potentially with the Religious Court.

Under the Decree, groups of applicants can now collectively apply for birth certificate statements from the court. This can also be done through the accessible circuit courts (sidang keliling) that travel to the villages. There are also fee waivers for those who cannot afford to pay the application for birth certificate statements. The Decree provides a foundation for District Courts and Civil Registries to work together to develop a one-stop service where birth certificates can be issued on the same day as the court determination is made.

AIPJ is currently designing a comprehensive, long term program to make it easier, especially for women who are poor and children to obtain legal identity through birth, marriage and divorce certificates.