RI's birth registration system still poor<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Plan International, a British based
\nnon-government organization, blames the country's poor birth
\nregistration system on unaccounted newborn babies nationwide.<\/p>\n
Nono Sumarsono, Plan International representative in
\nIndonesia, said the organization estimated that 30 percent of all
\nnewborn babies were not covered by civilian registration offices
\nnationwide each year.<\/p>\n
\"According to our annual surveys, one out of three newborn
\nbabies is not registered because of the poor civil registration
\nsystem and the centralization of registration offices in
\nregencies and mayoralties,\" Nono said in a meeting with Minister
\nof Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Surjadi Soedirdja here on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
He said most parents, mostly in rural and remote areas, were
\nreluctant to have their newly born children registered at civil
\nregistration offices because of the distance between their home
\nvillages and registration offices in the regency capitals and of
\nthe fees they had to pay for the registration.<\/p>\n
\"Most people, especially in rural and remote areas, are not
\naware of the importance of the birth registration, while the
\nbirth registration offices are not proactive enough in carrying
\nout their mission because of the absence of the government's
\nstrong political will,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Jap van der Straten, secretary of UN's Asia Birth Registration
\nCommittee, said the poor birth registration system in Indonesia
\nhad a lot to do with discriminative birth registration
\nregulations which were inherited from the Dutch colonial
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
\"According to the rulings that are still effective till now,
\nthe birth registration is based on race, religion and social
\nstatus so that many newborn babies of families whose religion is
\nnot included in the list of religions recognized by the
\ngovernment, or those from unlisted ethnic groups, are not
\nregistered,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said that during the Dutch colonial era, only babies of
\nMuslim and Christian parents and of royal, bureaucrat and rich
\nfamilies, were registered.<\/p>\n
Der Straten said the birth registration was important in line
\nwith the protection of child rights in Indonesia and the
\nimprovement of their health condition.<\/p>\n
He said millions of children in Indonesia have been exploited
\nfor commercial purposes. He cited street children who have been
\nexploited by their parents to work as beggars or employed to work
\nin fisheries and home industries, and of underage women employed
\nin red-light districts and massage centers.<\/p>\n
\"Numerous workers have been exported overseas with fake
\ndocuments and marked-up ages because of the absence of their
\nbirth registration certificates,\" he said, while criticizing the
\nimmigration offices for issuing passports with fake birth
\nregistration certificates.<\/p>\n
Der Straten suggested that the government should make a new
\nlaw on birth registration which was equally obligatory for all
\nnewborn children and intensify the national education program to
\nsend school-age children to school.<\/p>\n
He said Indonesia could save a lot of money if the birth
\nregistration is launched as a national program, so that it would
\nnot be necessary to hold the five-yearly population census.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia could learn from Belgium and Thailand that have had
\nan integral birth registration system so that people in the two
\ncountries need no 'master identity' card for their bank purposes
\nbecause they have their own birth registration certificates,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He said the Asia Birth Committee was organizing a five-day
\nworkshop in Jakarta and Surabaya, starting on Monday, to share
\nexperience on birth registration among 80 participating
\ncountries, including Thailand, Bangladesh, China, India and host
\nIndonesia. (rms)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ris-birth-registration-system-still-poor-1447893297",
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