Towards Universal Birth Registration in Guinea
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République de la Guinée Ministère de l’Administration du Territoire et la Décentralisation TOWARDS UNIVERSAL BIRTH REGISTRATION IN GUINEA ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CIVIL REGISTRATION REFORM IN GUINEA FOR GOVERNMENT AND UNICEF CIVIL REGISTRATION CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT—CRC4D THE HAGUE, MARCH 2014 « L'UNICEF intervient dans le domaine de l'enregistrement des naissances en fournissant les registres d'état civil auprès de la DNEC avec un plan de redistribution sur l'ensemble du territoire. L'UNICEF souhaite intervenir dans ce secteur directement auprès des populations et des acteurs locaux dans les domaines de la formation et de la sensibilisation des populations. Afin d'améliorer la situation actuelle préoccupante de sous-déclaration des naissances, un forum avec l'ensemble des acteurs est en cours de préparation afin de définir une stratégie nationale en matière d'état civil. Pour ce faire, une étude diagnostic permettant d'identifier les goulots d'étranglements et de proposer des solutions apparaît un préalable nécessaire. » Source : European Union, 2013. __________________________________________________________________________________ The assignment to do a civil registration situation assessment and generate recommendations for government and UNICEF programming was carried out by Jaap van der Straaten, CEO of the Civil Registration Centre for Development—CRC4D, and Karamo Théophile Fenano, Focal point of Le Ministère de l’Administration Territoriale et de la Décentralisation. Jaap van der Straaten led the project. For information contact Jaap van der Straaten ([email protected]). The contact point for UNICEF was Guirlene C. Fréderic ([email protected]). Civil Registration Centre for Development—CRC4D 19 Koninginnegracht 2514AB The Hague The Netherlands Tel: 31 70 7113109 Email: [email protected] Website: https://www.crc4d.com 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS—3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY—4 1 SITUATION ANALYSIS—11 1.1 VITAL SIGNS OF CIVIL REGISTRATION—13 1.2 ORGANIZATIONAL REVIEW—25 1.3 LEGAL FRAMEWORK—45 1.4 DEMAND—56 1.5 GOVERNMENT POLICY, PLANS AND INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT—66 1.6 COMMUNICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT—73 1.7 BOTTLENECKS—74 2 PROGRAMMING—77 2.1 INTRODUCTION—77 2.2 THE ROLE OF UNICEF IN BIRTH REGISTRATION AND ITS INTERNAL ORGANIZATION—77 2.3 PROGRAMMING FOR BIRTH REGISTRATION IN THE CONTEXT OF CIVIL REGISTRATION—79 2.3.1 ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE—79 2.3.2 LEGAL CHANGE—88 2.3.3 STIMULATING DEMAND—91 2.3.4 COMMUNICATION FOR DEVELOPMENT (C4D)—93 2.3.5 COALITIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS—98 2.4 SYNTHESIS: ADDRESSING BOTTLENECKS—101 2.5 GOVERNMENT AND UNICEF PROGRAMMING—103 ANNEXES—104 ANNEX 1 PERSONS AND INSTITUTIONS CONSULTED—105 ANNEX 2 BIRTH REGISTRATION AND THE GLOBAL RIGHTS AGENDA—107 ANNEX 3 AGE DISTRIBUTION DELAYED REGISTRATION IN KINDIA COMMUNE—110 ANNEX 4 ESTIMATES OF THE NUMBER OF UNREGISTERED CHILDREN AND CHILDREN WITHOUT A BIRTH CERTIFICATE—111 INFORMATION SOURCES—112 2 ABBREVIATIONS AIMF Association Internationale des Maires Francophone BUNEC Bureau National de l’Etat Civil (Cameroon) C4D Communication for Development CEC Centre de l’Etat Civil (civil registry office) CENI Commission Electoral Nationale Indépendante CNEC Centre National de l’Etat Civil (Senegal) CRC Convention—, Committee on the Rights of the Child CRD Communauté Rurale de Développement DHS Demographic and Health Survey DNEC Direction National de l’Etat Civil EAC East African Community ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States EDS Enquête Démographie et de Santé EPI Expanded Program on Immunization (WHO) EU European Union GNI Gross National Income GNI PC Gross National Income Per Capita ICCPR International Convention on Civil and Political Rights ICT Information and Communication Technology ICT4D Information and Communication Technology for Development ID Identity document IDA International Development Association (part of the World Bank group) IIVRS International Institute for Vital Registration and Statistics. IFES International Foundation for Election/Electoral Systems INS Institut National de la Statistique NGO Non-Governmental Organization ISN Interim strategy note KAP Knowledge, attitudes, practices LDC Least developed countries MATD Ministère de l’Administration du Territoire et de la Décentralisation MDG Millennium Development Goal MICS Multi-Indicator Cluster Survey MoRES Monitoring Results for Equitable Systems MSHP Ministère de la Santé et de l’Hygiene Publique NADRA National Data Base and Registration Authority (Pakistan) OMS Organisation Mondiale de la Santé (WHO) PRSP Poverty reduction strategy paper RENACOT Reseau National des Communicateurs Traditionels RENIEC Registro Nacional de Identificación y Estado Civil (Peru) SITAN (UNICEF’s) Situation Analysis for a program country SOWC State of the World’s Children UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNFPA United Nations Population Fund UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNHCR United Nations High Commission of Refugees UNSD United Nations Statistics Division UNV United Nations Volunteers URSB Uganda Registration Services Bureau (Uganda) WHO World Health Organization (OMS) 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SITUATION ANALYSIS Guinea has almost twice the birth registration rate, 57.9% (2012), as expected for its income of USD 460 per capita (31%). But, a high number of 1 in 4 of registered children do NOT have a birth certificate. In Guinea, being registered but not having a birth certificate is almost equivalent to not being registered at all. Delayed registration (half a year or longer after the occurrence of the event) may also NEVER happen in 4 out of 5 cases. The total number of unregistered children under-5 is estimated at 821,000 (2014) and the total number without birth certificate at 1,141,000. For the under-18 the country estimates are 2,489,000 unregistered and 3,459,000 without birth certificate. There are serious concerns as well about the present quality of registration, about content error (by a lack of controls) and about the care given to archiving of records for permanent preservation. Death registration rates in Guinea are very low, probably below 6%. During the 2000s first a decline but thereafter a recovery of the birth registration rate occurred, though not yet back to the level of 1999. Guinea has the urban-rural birth registration differentials that one would expect, although at a higher level of registration than is the case for the peer group of LDCs. The differences between regions are large. In some regions, the “problem of the missing birth certificates” is significant. The rich-poor disparity is stark when compared internationally. This may be an indication that the costs of birth registration, direct and indirect, legal and illegal, deprive the poorest citizens from a legal identity, and are a major reason of inequitable service delivery. One of the prime organizational obstacles is the lack of central control, a problem that is as old as the secularisation of civil registration in France dating from 1792. The present national responsibility for civil registration is shared in an opaque way with local government, the courts and with the health ministry, although the latter still in a nascent form. What gives pause is that Guinea is among a group of fifteen countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, all with a French past, of which only 1 in 4 had a sustained improvement in registration since the year 2000. This may indicate barriers for development in French- provenance registration systems. Decentralization policy has reinforced the centrifugal forces already built into the system. Perversely, this has given rise to a situation of laissez-faire in civil registration, compromising national as well as local good governance. The nature of civil registration is that—unless a country and its people are rich, and/or its population density is high—the vital events will not be numerous enough to justify a granular network of registration offices that can be financially sustained. In countries such as Guinea a transformation of civil registration service organization is necessary. Guinea cannot afford more offices than the present 348; other solutions than more offices are needed. Examples of civil registration finance illustrate that the civil registration system in Guinea shows no uniformity across the country. In Kindia revenues from civil 4 registration are NOT needed to run the day-to-day business of the municipal government while civil registration productivity is high and archiving excellent. In the Matoto (Conakry) office revenues keep dozens of people on the payroll, but civil registration record archiving is very poor nevertheless. Both offices underreport actual registration numbers. Similarly, delayed registration is a source of revenue for the justice sector and high costs encourage the public to resort to counterfeit documents. It is therefore not a surprise that there is a great disparity between the poor and the rich in registration rates. Social transfer programs, when linking tangible benefits to a beneficiary ID, hold a promise to counter the disincentives for civil registration. Civil registration records need to be kept forever. While there are excellent examples of civil record archiving (Kindia) they are the exception rather than the rule. The civil registers and the duplicate registers are kept across the country rather than centrally. Access to the present registers for individuals who seek an extract or for government to produce vital statistics is as good as impossible. The popular uprising in 2007 has shown that great damage