Solomon kids need identities

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Solomon kids need identities

3News NZ

Many children in the Solomon Islands never had their births registered

Many children in the Solomon Islands never had their births registered

 

What do you need a birth certificate for? Well, to prove we are who we say we are. We need it to be enrolled in school, citizenship, getting a passport, bank account and proving our age.

A birth certificate gives a child privileges and protection from exploitation.

It's something here but a third of the world's children do not have an official identity because they're not registered with the government at birth.

Most unregistered children live in Africa or Asia, but there are areas of the Pacific where it's been a challenge to keep any records on births.

The Solomon Islands is one of them.

Only 3,343 people are officially registered as being born in the Solomons (since the start of a UNICEF programme in 2011), although the population is over half a million. 

In this report from the Solomons, Campbell Live’s Whena Owen explains how Unicef and a handful of Kiwis are giving thousands of children an official identity. 

Watch the video.

 

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Comments

13/08/2012 8:12:52 p.m.

Jaydielai wrote:

This report is very biased and unbalanced. A poor, sloppy journalistic piece. I used to think that NZ people are better than the Ausssies but after reading this report you all are the same manipulators,self servers, racists and big bullies. you only treat the Tongans and the Samoans nicely and throw crap at the Melansesians just because of the color of their skin. You look at the citizens or people with permanent residency status of NZ or Australia, I believe more than 90 percent are Samoans and Tongans.And you call them representative of the Pacific people even establing departments looking after their affairs? Aren't you guys ashamed?This report sucks and it is a load of crap. Do something better for your fundraising efforts instead of this onesided, unbalanced footages.

13/08/2012 12:18:36 p.m.

UNICEF NZ wrote:

Hi, thanks for the comments. We thought it was worth just clarifying that while many births in the Solomon Islands are registered at the time on paper, the problem is that they are not “officially” registered on a central system. For a birth to be officially registered, the record has to be added to the Civil Registration system based in the capital Honiara, which was rarely happening until the UNICEF programme started in 2011. The other issue (as seen in the programme) is that the parents need to decide on a name for the baby before they leave hospital, otherwise the birth registration process can’t happen. The figure of 3,343 births registered is actually the number of births officially registered since the start of the UNICEF programme in 2011, not the overall record of births registered. Birth Registration for all children in all countries is crucial. The official recording of a child's birth is crucial for a child’s rights to be met and for the government to be able to provide for its citizens such as ensuring people have access to healthcare, education and other jobs and services. When a child’s birth is not registered, they are vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, trafficking and other violations of their rights – even the opportunity to go to school. Essentially, not being registered means a child is not counted.

13/08/2012 12:51:43 a.m.

JP wrote:

Only 3343 people with birth certificates in the Solomon Islands? This article/video is not 100% true about the Solomon Islands. How would you explain there are more than 10,000 local Solomon Islands students/working locals currently overseas either studying or working? Are you saying we are all on fake passports? It has been a common practice that each baby born in the Solomon's is give a birth certificate and a medical book for the baby. There is something fishy about this report. I wont be surprised if this was produced for marketing purposes to get donors to sponsor this program. Another, problem is that all the footages used in this video doesn't reflect our beautiful country. Most of the shots are taken from few of the settlements around Honiara which is the capital city. There are closed to a thousand islands in the Solomons, and I dont even see any of white sandy islands with crystal blue waters. This report is such a let-down and a disgrace. "From a concern Solomon Islander"

13/08/2012 12:44:51 a.m.

KBlackian wrote:

This information is too narrow and is just based on the interest of the one who produced the report. With regards to registering childrens is not a problem at all in the solomons, because every single baby born in clinics, hospital and even those which a born before arriving at any health care center were registered into a birth registry book, therefore the number of babies born are counted every year. However, it is true that alot of babies don't have names when they were born, but were named when they go back home, and yes the registration is not done in computers but through official birth registry book.

12/08/2012 10:46:03 p.m.

Fred Taisara wrote:

Birth certificates means nothing to us, more importantly from birth regardless of many challenges, we grow into productive self-sustaining people in our villages whereby you wouldn't have survived under similar circumstances. God has been so good to us regardless of the difficulties we face daily.

12/08/2012 8:31:51 p.m.

katrina wrote:

Ravin have you ever been to The Solomons? Just because they live on an island does not mean they live wealthy rich lives. There is a severe lack of infrastructure, rubbish spills out of unemptied 40 gallon drum rubbish bins all over the ground. The rubbish dump is on the edge of the lagoon where the rubbish just gets bull-dozed into the sea and leaves a rubbish trail out to the ocean. There is Malaria, the people are poor. The smallest coral fish get spared for food. How many Solomon Islanders do you actually see in NZ? not many. There closet large country would be Australia.

12/08/2012 10:11:05 a.m.

Ravin Peel wrote:

Come on people go where the NEED is greatest! The Kenyan should be helping the Kenyans where the conditions are NOT an island paradise.
Its a non issue , they only need an identity in order to get a passport to come here and get the welfare.

11/08/2012 9:38:54 a.m.

JC wrote:

Birth registration isn't as important as reducing the birth rate. There are far too many children being born in the Solomons.

Children who are not registered do exist! This report gives no real reason why children without birth certificates are disadvantaged.

11/08/2012 9:34:12 a.m.

JC wrote:

How does a birth certificate give a child "privileges and protection from exploitation"? Virtually all children in New Zealand haev birth certificates. That neither gives special privileges nor prevents exploitation of many.