A year ago, Oumarou Sanda, mayor of Garoua 2 in northern Cameroon, raised a trophy after his municipality was named Cameroon's Citizenship Champion for expanding birth registration. The recognition, awarded through UNICEF-supported initiatives, marked months of work to address one of the country's most persistent child protection gaps: the absence of legal identity for thousands of children.
Under Cameroon's civil status law, every child has the right to a birth certificate. Parents are expected to register births within 90 days at no cost. After that, registration becomes more complex, and after one year, families must go through court procedures that are often costly and time-consuming. For many parents, the system remains out of reach.
Aissatou Bouba, a mother of four in Garoua 2, said: 'One of my eldest children was sent home years ago from school because we didn't have his official papers.' In 2024, she brought her youngest child to a local health facility where staff registered the birth immediately after delivery.
According to Cameroon's Ministry of Basic Education, more than 1.5 million children (about 30% of primary school pupils) are enrolled without birth certificates. Without documentation, children cannot attend secondary school, sit for public exams, or obtain a national ID card, which is needed to access many services.
UNICEF estimates that of 560,000 births recorded in health facilities in 2023, only 43.77% were officially registered. Alexis Mayang, a UNICEF child protection specialist, said: 'Children without documentation are harder to trace, monitor, or protect. They can be moved across borders with fewer checks.'
The push to address these gaps gained momentum after the first Mayors' Forum on Birth Registration in April 2024. Following the forum, UNICEF, working with the government, launched the 'My Name' campaign. Since its launch, more than 17,000 children have been registered. In Garoua 2, authorities shifted to digital civil status systems, allowing certificates to be issued within minutes.
Despite these gains, significant challenges remain. In many communities, birth registration is not prioritized, with some parents only engaging when children are denied school access. Deeper social barriers persist, including beliefs that girls do not require formal documentation, increasing the risk of early or forced marriage.
Globally, UNICEF estimates that 166 million children under five remain unregistered. In Cameroon, officials say closing that gap will depend not only on administrative reform but also on shifting how communities define a child's legal existence.
Source: www.aljazeera.com