UNICEF launches competition among councils to boost birth registration.

The forum held under the theme: “One Child, One Birth Certificate, One Identity”. The gathering took place at the Yaounde Conference Centre.

The campaign tagged: “My Name, My Identity, My Right”, according to UNICEF officials, will help in their goal to accelerate the number of birth registration in each council in the country.

The Minister of Decentralisation and Local Development, Georges Elanga Obam, it should be said, had in his closing remarks at the forum, challenged mayors to put in more efforts to ensure the registration of newborns in their various municipalities.

Minister Elanga Obam had equally reminded the municipal authorities of the fact the country has over seven million children that are not legally identified. With the disturbing figure, he said the commitment of all and sundry is needed so as to reverse the trend.

The member of government had also hailed UNICEF and all its partners for the quality of work done in the organisation of the First National Forum of Mayors on the Universal Birth Registration in Cameroon.

“The campaign ‘My Name, My Identity, My Right’ has been officially opened. The ten mayors who will stand out will receive a special prize on the Universal Children Day which will be commemorated on November 20,” Minister Elanga Obam said.

Speaking during the closing ceremony of the forum, the Resident Representative of UNICEF Cameroon, Nadine Perrault, challenged mayors to take the task ahead very serious. 

“We have the power to make 2024, the year Birth Registration in Cameroon and make the country a champion in the campaign,” Perrault. 

“Seven million Cameroonians, including 1.5 million people do not have a legal identity. Unless we decide to change the situation at this forum of mayors of birth registration, things will never change,” Perrault regretted.

A source within UNICEF is said to have disclosed that the First National Forum of Mayors on the universal Birth Registration in Cameroon was an opportunity to challenge the over 374 civil status centres found in the different councils in the country to top up the game and accelerate birth registration.

“We urge them to increase registration points, streamline processes, and change the trend of the 1.5 million unregistered children currently discovered in primary schools,” the source added. 

The closing ceremony was marked with the signing of an official mayors’ charter containing several commitments to be taken by the various parties in favour of the acceleration of birth registration in their various councils.

Worthy to recall is the fact that Minister Elanga Obam had in a press conference prior to the forum disclosed that nearly seven million Cameroonians are without birth certificates in the country.

According to him, this figure followed an observation that for over a decade, the rate of birth registration has not only remained stagnant but has also been in a decline in some regions. This, the minister said, is despite efforts by government with support from its technical and financial partners

Minister Elanga Obam had lamented that the majority of these citizens without the vital document are children, including over 1.5 million primary and nursery school pupils.