Birth certificates issued by Mali open doors for Mauritanian refugee children
Published: 20/Apr/2015
Source: UNHCR
A quarter century after his grandfather fled from Mauritania to escape bitter inter-communal violence, 13-year-old Oumar stood with other young Mauritanian refugees to receive birth certificates in Mali – a step that opens the door to basic rights enjoyed by Malians.
“Feel at home in Kayes, you are at home in Mali,” Minister for Territorial Administration and Decentralization Abdoulaye Idrissa Maïga told the 32 children at the March ceremony held close to the Mauritanian border that their parents had once fled across. Their births had never been registered, hindering access to basic social services.
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