This was at the end of the first national forum of mayors on birth registration organized by the government with the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), held from April 26 to 27, 2024 in Yaoundé.
The situation is alarming. For more than a decade, not only has the birth registration rate stagnated in Cameroon, it has actually been falling in some regions.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Decentralization and Local Development, confirmed by UNICEF, nearly 7 million Cameroonians are without birth certificates, including over 1.5 million primary and nursery school pupils. And yet, the importance of this document not only in the life of an individual, but also for the country as a whole, needs no further demonstration.
Making universal birth registration an essential issue in Cameroon's 360 communes: this was the commitment made at the end of this first forum, during which participants discussed the challenges, constraints and opportunities associated with this issue.
Strategic focuses
By consensus, the mayors and officers of the main civil registry centers, to which the secondary civil registry centers are attached, have adopted four strategic axes that will serve as their compass in favor of the objective: “one child, one birth certificate, one identity”.
The first priority adopted by the mayors is decentralization and local planning. This will involve promoting birth registration as a right for every child born in a commune; putting in place all the necessary measures to establish and issue a birth certificate to every child; and involving traditional and religious leaders, women's associations, neighborhood and village committees and any other players likely to contribute to birth registration, to name but a few.
As for the second axis, it envisages, among other things: improving and strengthening the partnership between the civil registry and the health sector by opening civil registry offices in health facilities. Or by strengthening support for community health agents to contribute more effectively to declaring births and issuing birth certificates.
With regard to axis three on the financing of the civil registry system, the main thing to remember is that from now on, we'll be urgently lobbying the central government to adopt a special plan to make the direct and indirect costs of birth registration completely free of charge over a 12-month period.
Last but not least, the mayors pledged to promote the adoption of digital technologies in civil registration, and to allocate sufficient resources to IT infrastructure and to programs and skills development for CTD staff to effectively manage and maintain digital civil registration systems.
Let's hope that this first forum is not just one too many. Mountains have a habit of giving birth to mice under our skies.
Julien Efila
RÉACTION
Joachim Metoh Mbah, maire de la commune de Babessi, département du Ngo-Ketunjia, région du Nord-Ouest
« Nous attendons énormément de ce forum »
Le problème que nous rencontrons dans notre commune est celui de l’insuffisance d’enregistrement des naissances. Des enfants naissent et les parents, surtout en zone rurale, ne les établissent pas ce précieux document dans les délais prévus par la loi. Toute chose qui complique la situation car, au-delà du délai de trois mois, ils sont obligés de faire recours à la justice. Et lorsque cela n’est pas fait, on se retrouve avec des enfants de 09 ans sans actes de naissance. Un réel handicap pour ces derniers lorsqu’ils doivent participer aux examens officiels.
Nous attendons donc énormément de ce premier forum national des maires sur l’enregistrement systématique des naissances parce que les thématiques abordées sont en adéquation avec le problème posé.
Propos recueillis par Julien Efila
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