US EditionSouth Africa's One Million Invisible Children without Birth Certificates
3 Articles
3 Articles
South Africa's one million invisible children without birth certificates
An NGO has taken the South African government to court over a backlog of hundreds of thousands of applications for late birth registration, with some people waiting for seven years for a response from Home Affairs. Living without a birth certificate restricts access to healthcare and education in South Africa. On the continent, more than half of Africa's children under five lack any form of legal identity.
As a result of administrative blockages, hundreds of thousands of children grow up in the country without a birth certificate. Once they become adults, many doors close before them. An action before the courts is under way following the mobilization of various organizations, in order to demand a more fluid procedure.
It took 11 years for Solomon to have his first birth certificate. Solomon, an 11-year-old boy, went to the Boca del Río, Veracruz Civil Registry alone to apply for his birth certificate because without him he could not attend classes. Solomon explained that his parents separated and at birth no one registered him, and since the midwife who attended the birth of his mother died there were no documents that proved his legal existence. You may be i…
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