DRC: With birth certificates, 137 children in Nyiragongo can say “I belong”
Published: 28/Sep/2020
Source: Medium.com / Eastern Congo Initiative
How the Women Lawyers’ Movement is helping families in DRC use the legal system to benefit children
Like many parents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nicole Kahindo had never thought about birth certificates. “I only knew that, as long as my husband and his family recognized our children, and that would suffice for life to go on. No one could contest their paternity,” she said. When Nicole’s husband abandoned her and their three children, she learned an awful lesson: informal recognition by family members is no substitute for legal status. In sub-Sarahan Africa, 95 million children are in the same predicament — without legal status for want of a birth certificate.
Read further: https://medium.com/@easterncongo/with-birth-certificates-137-children-in-nyiragongo-can-say-i-belong-3d10181c8a8a