Kenya: Promoting access to legal identity and documentation
Published: 2/Jan/2018
Source: Norwegian Refugee Council
By Fatuma Abdullahi
My child was born in in 2013. We were asked to come back after six months for his birth certificate. It’s taken years.”
Yuwil and his wife are from Sudan, they moved to Kakuma in 2006 fleeing conflict. They now live in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya. Their four-year-old son still has not received a birth certificate, which makes it difficult for Yuwil to prove his child’s identity.
A birth certificate opens up a world of opportunities for a child, including access to education, health services, food, travel and protection. It is also important to have when returning to their home countries or when applying for resettlement in a third country.
In 2017, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) expanded our information, counselling and legal assistance services for refugees and local communities in the Kenyan refugee camps of Kakuma and Dadaab. It was very difficult for refugees to access birth certificates; most of them gave up after many visits to the UN Refugee agency (UNHCR) field offices. They also didn’t fully understand the importance of a birth certificate in relation to claiming their rights.
Read further at NRC website: https://www.nrc.no/news/2017/december/promoting-access-to-legal-identity-and-documentation/