UNHCR and UNICEF support Zamboanga City in pilot birth registration project for Sama Bajaus

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – More than 200 Sama Bajaus were provided with birth certificates today, in a pilot birth registration project spearheaded by the Zamboanga City local government and supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The distribution is the culmination of a pilot birth registration project for Sama Bajaus. Due to their itinerant way of life and because of generations of nonregistration among families, the Sama Bajaus face documentation issues, which in turn lead to their being at risk of statelessness. It is thought that there are 10,000 Sama Bajaus living in Zamboanga alone, around 85% of them without birth certificates.

UNHCR and UNICEF are providing technical assistance to the project under the UNHCR-UNICEF Joint Strategy for Addressing Childhood Statelessness. The pilot registration initiative also supports the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is a significant advance towards leaving no one behind.

“The Philippines, a signatory to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons, has identified the Sama Bajaus as a population at risk of statelessness. After a series of consultations with Sama Bajau communities, UNHCR, as a leading UN agency toward ending statelessness by 2024, arrived at a recommendation to conduct a birth registration to address their documentation issues,” said Shinji Kubo, UNHCR Representative to the Philippines. “A birth certificate will help the community assert their rights. Ensuring birth registration also supports our global initiatives to prevent statelessness. This pilot birth registration demonstrates the commitment of the Government of the Philippines toward achieving the SDGs, ‘leaving no one behind.’”

“Every child/human has the right to a name and identity.  Birth registration forms the basis of identity. It has much larger implications on children to have access to education, health care and social services. This is invaluable for the indigenous population and those at risk of stateless such as the Sama Bajau we have reached,” said Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov, UNICEF Philippines Representative, “UNICEF is pleased to work with UNHCR in reaching the outlying communities facilitating access to birth registration that will have significant impact on their lives.”

 

A pilot registration project, which commenced in October this year, seeks to register 1,500 people in the community under the leadership of the Department of Justice. This project, which is also in line with the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, is a concerted initiative involving the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Commission on Human Rights, and the Barangay Council of Kasanyangan, Zamboanga City.

By end-2019, the pilot activity aims to provide birth certificates to a total of 412 Sama Bajaus. The project aims to reach more communities in need of birth registration documents in 2020.

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For further information, please contact:

• Althea Gonzales
  Senior External Relations Assistant, UNHCR Philippines
  Mobile: +63 917 844 3180
  Email: [email protected]

• Zafrin Chowdhury
  Chief of Communication, UNICEF Philippines
  Mobile: +63 917 867 8366
  Email: [email protected]

About UNHCR

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, leads international action to protect people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution. We deliver life-saving assistance like shelter, food and water, help safeguard fundamental human rights, and develop solutions that ensure people have a safe place to call home where they can build a better future. We also work to ensure that stateless people are granted a nationality.

UNHCR proudly supports the Philippines’ National Action Plan to End Statelessness by 2024, a first in Southeast Asia, running in parallel with UNHCR’s #IBelong campaign to end statelessness. Statelessness is also one of the priorities of the Philippines identified in the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022.

For more information please visit www.unhcr.org/ph

About UNICEF  

UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.

For more information about UNICEF and its work for children in the Philippines, visit www.unicef.ph. Follow UNICEF Philippines on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  

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