CRC Concluding Observations: Guinea, 2019
Published: 28/Feb/2019
Source: UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
CRC/C/GIN/CO/3-6
Concluding observations on the combined third to sixth periodic reports of Guinea
Extract:
Birth registration
21.The Committee notes the ongoing reform undertaken by the State party to improve State functions in the area of civil status matters, including the draft revisions to articles 194 and 197 of the Civil Code (1983) and the establishment of the National Directorate for Civil Status Matters. However, the Committee is deeply concerned about:
(a)Low levels of birth registration reported by the State party, including levels as low as 14 per cent in at least one prefecture and 5 per cent in at least one municipality, and the limited awareness of the population of the importance of birth registration and related procedures, particularly among parents who are illiterate;
(b)The considerable disparity in birth registration levels between urban and rural areas, and difficulties and delays in registration owing to insufficient registration services being available in some locations in the State party;
(c)Fees and associated costs for birth certificates;
(d)The high number of children who are registered but do not possess a birth certificate, and the existence of counterfeit birth certificates;
(e)Challenges faced by the State party with regard to the transfer, reliability and security of data in the context of birth registration;
(f)The lack of regular budgetary allocations to the National Directorate for Civil Status Matters;
(g)The absence of information on any measures taken to remove barriers to the birth registration of children whose parents do not have personal documentation or are stateless.
22. Taking note of target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Committee urges the State party to:
(a) Strengthen measures to promote mandatory, universal and timely birth registration, free of charge, and intensify its efforts to raise awareness among the population, including parents, health professionals and teachers, about the importance of birth registration and about the birth registration procedures, taking into account the high level of illiteracy in the State party;
(b) Continue efforts to decentralize birth registration as far as possible to benefit rural and marginalized populations, including by establishing mobile birth registration teams and by integrating registration units into health facilities;
(c) Eliminate any fees and costs associated with registration;
(d) Ensure that all children receive a birth certificate without delay, and adopt effective measures to combat the prevalence of counterfeit birth certificates;
(e) Improve the data- collection systems, data transmission and archiving used for birth registration and seek technical assistance from the United Nations Children ’ s Fund (UNICEF), among others;
(f) Allocate sufficient human, technical and financial resources to the civil registration system, in particular to bodies and mechanisms at the local level and to the National Directorate for Civil Status Matters.
Download from OHCHR: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CRC%2fC%2fGIN%2fCO%2f3-6&Lang=en