It is expected that approximately 150 children a day will be issued birth certificates by issuing centres that will be located in
convenient places for parents such as local medical centres, mother and child care units and ward administration offices.
Dr. Min New Soe, the Mon State Economic and Planning Minister said: “This process will tell us what proportion of children do not have birth certificates.”
He said it will also give the government a better idea of children numbers which will help them design better policies for children’s wellbeing.
Another aim of the service is to encourage parents to ensure their child has a birth certificate by telling them why a birth certificate is so important.
A ward administrator from Mawlamyine township said: “Education about birth certificates is weak. Some parents do not know how important and useful they are. Birth certificates are needed when children enroll in school. Often that is when parents come to us and we have to confirm their child’s date and place of birth.
“We always tell people that birth certificates are important because they are needed for [putting a child on] a family registration document and they can only get their national identification if they are on the family registration document.”
Daw Tin Chaw from Kyauk Tan Ward, Mawlamyine Township said that she paid about 10,000 Kyats for her children’s birth certificate registration. They were born in hospital where they should have received birth certificates, but because she could not pay the hospital bills the hospital did not issue the birth certificates.
If children do not have a birth certificate their parents have to register them. The registration will then be sent to the head of the township health department who will confirm where and when the child was born and a birth certificate will be sent back to the parents.
During the week-long drive to issue birth certificates undocumented children under five years of age who are staying in 44 townships in the Magway Region, Chin State and Mon State can apply for a certificate, irrespective of where they were born in Burma. The birth certificates will all be issued between 20th and 24thOctober.
