Jakarta – An estimated 50 million children in Indonesia do not have birth certificates despite the presence of laws mandating the provision of free certificates, a children's rights expert said.
The provision of free birth certificates is stipulated under Article 28 of the 2002 Law on Child Protection. It is also regulated under Article 27 of the 2006 Law on Civil Registration.
"Last year, some 50 million from a total of 85 million children lost their first basic human right of having recognized identities and nationalities," Magdalena Sitorus of the Commission for Indonesian Child Protection said Friday during a book launch and public discussion on non-discriminatory birth registration.
The government said it aims to have all children in the country registered by 2011. "We are still discussing with related stakeholders the strategy on how to do it," said Joko Moersito of the Directorate of Civil Registration at the Home Ministry.
The government also plans to provide an identity number to every citizen to be used when, for example, applying for a driver's license or processing tax receipts.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by the government in 1990, states: "Every child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name (and) the right to acquire a nationality."
Under the convention, anyone under the age of 18 is considered a child.
The commission said many obstacles existed in providing free birth certificates, including a discriminatory legal system, a complicated bureaucracy and differences in regional procedures.
Problems are also posed by marriages that have occurred under religions that are not recognized by the state. As these marriages are not officially registered, any children born will be viewed as having been born out of wedlock.
The 2006 law stipulates that the provision of free birth certificates is only valid for 60 days after the child is born. Indonesian nationals who are late in reporting births will be fined Rp 1 million (US$109), while foreigners will be fined Rp 2 million.
Public officials face a maximum fine of Rp 10 million for conduct that slows the process of document issuance. There are also fines for document forgery, which are raised by one-third if a public official is responsible.
Magdalena, who chairs the commission's team publishing the book, said the issuance of birth certificates should not be related to the parents' marriage status, nationality or citizenship.
As of December 2006, only 102 of the country's 480 regencies and municipalities provided free birth certificates.
The provinces of Lampung, North Sumatra, DKI Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Bali, South Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara and Papua provide free birth certificates, although not all municipalities and regencies in each province have to do so.