Ethiopia Registering Incredible Progress towards Universal Registration of Children at Birth: UNICEF

Addis Ababa August 11/2019 This remark was made at the 2nd National Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Day celebrated yesterday in the presence of President Sahlework Zewdie at the Hilton Hotel.

In a keynote address, UNICEF Country Representative Adele Khodr said Ethiopia has made incredible progress in child birth registration by increasing the registered number of children from 3 percent to 20 percent during the last three years.

“In 2016 only 3 percent of under-five children in Ethiopia had their births registered by civil authorities. Within the last three years, 20 percent of children aged one year and below have had their births registered with civil authorities,” Khodr said.

UNICEF will commit redoubling their efforts to support the Government of Ethiopia to attain global and national targets and commitments on birth registration and legal identity, she added.

Immigration, Nationality and Vital Events Agency (INVEA) Director-General, Mujib Jemal said on his part over 65 percent of the population of the country are not registered, even if there are improvements in vital event registration in the last three years.

Birth registration is important for securing legal as well as human rights of individual and accesses to basic social services, he added.

It is a fundamental right of any individual that provides protection from a range of issues, including early marriage, child labor exploitation, prosecution and detention.

The director-general called up on stakeholders and the public to have awareness on vital events registration as it needs holistic approach among different stakeholders.

President Sahlework Zewde said an organized civil registration benefits the peoples to have appropriate share in the economic, social and legal services of the country.

It also enables the country to ensure the political, legal and constitutional rights of citizens and to have fair economic and social service distribution in the country, she added.

According to her, the data on civil registration helps the Government of Ethiopia to draft new policies and strategies to enhance good governance and democracy at all levels.