250,000 Children in Nicaragua to Receive their Identity
Sep 3rd, 2008 by Jon Posted in Nicaragua News | No Comments
What if you grew up without a name? Your parents called you whatever they wanted. Your family name fading from memory. What if your government had no record of your existence? How would you gain access to critical government services like health care or even vote in an election? On the flip side, how would local authorities accurately budget and plan finances and services if it has no record of how large their population is?
This is the reality of nearly 250,000 children born in rural and native communities along the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. It seems incomprehensible that a situation like this can occur in the first place. But in a region where there is rampant unemployment, poor access to government services, and historical neglect, it’s easy to see how parents on the east coast would rather forgo registering their children to avoid missing a day’s wage or incur travel expenses.
But for this quarter-million strong, they are finally receiving an identity recognized by their country and therefore the international community as part of the “Right to a Name and Nationality” programme.
Thanks to this initiative, teams have traveled and registered nearly all the children in the RAAN region of Nicaragua (north-east coast), and the programme continues in the RAAS (including Corn Islands and Bluefields) and Nueva Guinea. Training and personnel are now in place to continue registration of future children.
These children now have rights under Nicaraguan laws and recognition of their ethnicity. They can now attend public schools, see a doctor, eventually vote in elections, and legally work. A name on paper in itself may not appear to mean much, but for 250,000 children on the Atlantic coast it means they are no longer orphans to the world.
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The “Right to a Name and Nationality” programme run by Save the Children, Plan International, UNICEF (the United Nations children’s fund), Nicaragua’s Supreme Electoral Council (CSE) and regional and municipal authorities.
More information on this program can be found in this article.
Technorati Tags: children, Nicaragua, Right to a Name and Nationality, UNICEF
