The Right to a Birth Certificate

You know in every country I know of... it is mandatory to have a birth certificate to be enrolled for school. My birth certificate is something I have taken for granted. It's always somewhere... but i've got it.. even if it gets lost, I just need to get a duplicate made, simple... no fuss. As a kid, I also never knew what was the purpose of having a birth certificate other than knowing my name, parents' name, where I was born and what day I was born on. But the most important thing to anyone is to know what's on the birth certificate!

If my mum remembered my birthdate wrongly, the birth certificate would clear up the misunderstanding. If someone called me by another name, the birth certificate would verify who I was. If I got seperated from my parents, the birth certificate would tell me who they are, where they lived... and just for that nostalgic moment, I could return to the very hospital I was born in so many years ago.

Then I went to Payatas and I realized the plight of every person in Payatas and every person born into poverty. There's so much uncertainty. Names can be changed anytime. Parents can't be verified or tracked. And birthdates are just a guess. Birth certificate gives one a nationality and an identity. And it also protects a child! It also is the passport to an eudcation... education that breaks the poverty cycle!

I'm happy to read that in Mumbai, an NGO is working to getting birth certificates for the kids there. And even happier to know that the Indian government has a target to register every citizen (adult/newborn) by December 2008. Let's hope they keep to their word. India is setting the example. It has 1 billion citizens.. by now more...

What about the Philippines?

Is it fair that a scavenging parent earning 8-300 pesos a day has to fork out 900-2000 pesos to secure a birth certificate for her/his child? Maybe the rich can afford it. But simple Maths tells us the parent in the dumpsite cannot afford that certificate or that of the other 6 kids. And why should the children suffer because the parent can't afford it?

Is it fair that an illiterate parent has to fill up many forms on his/her own just as an educated person is expected to? Is it fair that a working parent has to make a 2hour journey or more and stand in queue for about 7 hours just to get one form? and to return the next day to join the same queue? and this stupid cycle goes on and on????
sometimes the printer is spoilt and the parent has to return the next day? the child eagerly waiting for his birth certificate would have literally starved to death by the time mum/dad is done with queuing and queuing and paying and paying!


And this same thing happens not only in the Philippines but in other countries too where the poor are the nobodies in society! Who cares about their birth certificates? They are poor because they are lazy? They choose to be poor and live in dumpsites and squatters? And the biggest irony is that their own people and their own governments don't care about them. I know because I see it, because I've spoken to Filipinos who openly express disgust at the bunch of people living atop smoky mountain. I know that there are good people who care, who want to do something. But right now there are not enough of these good people in our societies!

Wasn't there some noble dream to eradicate poverty by 2010? isnt that what governments want to see happening too? I just wonder the powerful, the leaders, the rich... eradicate poverty or eradicate the people we label, "Poor"?

If you're reading this and you want to eradicate poverty or want to do something good... go to where the poor are... know his/her name, his/her parent's name/s, where and when s/he was born.... because that person is somebody with a right to live, to exist, to be a citizen, to be identified and known... Then go a step further... secure a birth certificate... as an affirmation that s/he ia a Person (your friend and brother/sister) and acknowledge his/her meaningful participation in the world/country/society/community/family.


I have a 2010 goal. I would like to work on getting birth certificates for the people in Payatas. If possible for everyone in Philippines and in other countries.... but i think this is a goal we can all share in wherever we are.


Sherlyn
Singapore

http://www.gulfnews.com/world/India/10221868.html

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=43440