Cameroon partners with La Francophonie to issue 500,000 birth certificates

The National Civil Status Registration Office (BUNEC) of Cameroon plans to issue 500,000 birth certificates in a special campaign supported by the International Organization of La Francophonie in the next three years. The pilot phase of the project was launched recently in the Far North regional capital of Maroua.

The Director General of BUNEC, Alexandre Marie Yomo, in an interview with state broadcaster CRTV, said the project is part of the agency’s efforts to ramp up the issuance of birth certificates especially to school-going children. Yomo says 21,800 birth certificates will to be issued in the Far North Region alone in 2024 and 2025.

He disclosed that the project follows discussions finalized between officials of La Francophonie and BUNEC during the 44^th ministerial conference of the inter-governmental organized held in Yaounde last November. He said the project adds up to other efforts including a charter signed between mayors in Cameroon and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to speed up birth registration. The charter was signed on the sideline of a national forum of mayors which took place in May in Yaounde to discuss hurdles to birth registration in the country.

“During the ministerial conference of La Francophonie which took place here in Cameroon in November 2023, this institution decided to support eight countries in the issuance of 500,000 birth certificates each. Cameroon was chosen among these countries,” said Yomo.

“The project will be implemented in two phases. The first will run in 2024 with the issuance of 3,000 birth certificates. In 2025, there will be the issuance of 25, 000 copies,” he added.

“Through the issuance of 500,000 birth certificates between 2024 and 2027, La Francophonie intends to support Cameroon in its social inclusion efforts. You know that in the world, there are about 800 million people without legal identity, many of who have no civil registration records,” Yomo disclosed.

The BUNEC boss hinted that apart from the Far North region, they are equally looking at other regions such as the East and West for the birth registration campaign.

As the project unfolds, Yomo said he counts on the collaboration of all stakeholders. “We will continue our consultations with major concerned parties in the civil registration process. I am talking specifically about administrative and judicial authorities who are the ones who facilitate the delivery of declaratory judgements for birth certificate issuance in cases where the statutory deadline has elapsed.  Parliamentarians, traditional rulers, religious authorities, heads of health institutions, and of course parents, are also very importance stakeholders in this civil registration ecosystem.”

This partnership with La Francophonie to issue birth certificates to undocumented children follows other previous initiatives launched in Cameroon to issue these foundation identity document to children in final examination classes, as well as a larger campaign launched in August last year by the government to issue the credential to 500,000 people in all the regions of the country.

Article Topics

Africa  |  birth registration  |  Cameroon  |  civil registration  |  legal identity  |  National Civil Status Registration Office (BUNEC)  |  SDG 16.9