Legal identity and education in Central African Republic
Published: 20/Apr/2018
Source: Norwegian Refugee Council
The Central African Republic (CAR) has experienced a succession of violent crises, the most serious taking place between 2013 and 2015. Further outbreaks of violence in May and June 2017 have pushed the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) to 600,000 and CAR refugees in neighbouring countries to 481,000. CAR remains extremely fragile with an estimated 2.4 million people in need of assistance.
Insecurity, violence and forced displacement have severely weakened civil registration and education systems in CAR. In 2010, before the crisis, only 61 percent of children under the age of five were registered at birth. Similarly, challenges in access to education are demonstrated by the 2015 primary net enrolment rate of 72 percent and achievement rate of only 48 percent. NRC has carried out an assessment on access to birth registration for displacement-affected communities in CAR and its link to enrolling in school and sitting public exams. The results of this research indicate numerous challenges in registering births and that lack of a birth certificate limits access to education, in particular to secondary school and higher education, as well as access to diplomas and certificates.
Download report (in French) and briefing paper (in English) from NRC website.