Launch of interoperability : guaranteeing the right to a legal identity for all Burundian children.
From now on, the civil registry and health services will work together in the same place to facilitate birth registration for all children, giving even the most vulnerable access to a legal identity.
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Thursday 31 October 2024 marks a turning point for children's rights in Burundi. Joint Ministerial Order N° 530/630/836 regarding interoperability between civil registry services and health facilities (FOSA) for birth registration was officially launched. This ordinance, adopted on 10 June 2024 by the Ministries of the Interior, Community Development and Public Safety, and Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, aims to bring civil registry services closer to communities by introducing birth registration at health facilities, to ensure that every child obtains a legal identity within the first 15 days of life.
A ceremony in honor of the launch was held at the Kiriri Garden Hotel and attended by a wide range of key players, including the governors of the 18 provinces, provincial doctors, provincial civil registrars, diplomatic representatives such as the Japanese Embassy, the European Union delegation, the Swiss Cooperation, the Belgian Embassy, and USAID. UN agencies were also present, including UNICEF, UN Women, UNDP, UNHCR, UNFPA, and the office of the UN Resident Coordinator in Burundi.
Interoperability is of vital importance for Burundi. Before the pilot approach in Kirundo, the birth registration rate was relatively low. The successful pilot phase in Kirundo introduced a simplified registration system, which increased the birth registration rate in the province from 8% to 45% between March 2023 and March 2024.
"We are directing all our development efforts towards improving people's living conditions. This is what led the Ministry to implement the joint ordinance to lay the foundations of a society determined to guarantee access to basic services for all and to ensure better well-being for future generations’’, said the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, Mr Ndarufatiye Theophile, representing the Minister of the Interior, in his opening remarks.
In his presentation, the Director General of Planning at the Ministry of Health, Dr Polycarpe Ndayikeza, representing the Minister of Health, also spoke of the government's efforts to guarantee a legal identity for all: “We plan to expand interoperability on a national scale to cover all the country's health facilities. We also plan to speed up the process of adopting and promulgating the law revising the Individual and Family Code.”
UNICEF, which supports the implementation of interoperability, emphasizes the importance of this measure for children's rights through its representative in Burundi, Ms France Begin. “With a registration rate of 73% for children under the age of one and 84% for children under the age of five, Burundi is one of the leading countries in terms of birth registration in Africa and the sub-region. However, despite this progress, further efforts are still needed to guarantee universal birth registration by 2030”.
The introduction of this integrated system of birth registration between civil registry offices and health facilities has been supported by the UNICEF National Committee for England. It will improve the protection of the fundamental rights of the most vulnerable population groups.
