Civil status documentation

2017

Governmental agencies for birth certificates namely, the Registration Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA) and the National Identification Authority (NIDA) have agreed to issue birth certificates to all children and ID cards to all individuals over 18 years in Nyarugusu camp. It was expected the initiative would be implemented by 2015 but it has been delayed. Currently, birth certificates are not issued to all new born children in an organised and efficient way due to the lack of technical expertise and funding for equipment. Marriage certificates are issued by local authorities outside the camp requiring time and resources to acquire it; in addition the fee for marriage certificates is higher than what most people of concern can afford. As a consequence, many people of concern refrain from getting married in line with the official procedure and miss out the opportunity to acquire essential protection safeguards related to adequate civil status documentation.
 
UNHCR should conduct proper registration exercises and continue its efforts to link new citizens with the Registration Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA) to ensure that all new births receive birth certificates and corresponding updates in UNHCR database. The office will continue its advocacy efforts to ensure people of concern are given suitable civil status documentation , as well as birth and death certificates as appropriate, and will seek to facilitate individuals’ right to basic documentation by ensuring access to government facilities and that issuance fees are proportionate to their available means.   UNHCR will also continue to build a relationship with NIDA in order to facilitate the issuance of identity documents for all refugees.