Minister of Homeland Security Nicholas Dausi has said government will start registering all unregistered children below the age of 15 starting mid-2020.
Dausi made the remarks on Thursday in Lusaka Zambia where he is attending the fifth Conference of African Ministers on Civil registration which is expected to end today.
Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the conference, Dausi said Malawi is committed to registering all children for the issuance of birth certificates through a mass exercise slated for next year.
He said: “Currently, universal and compulsory birth registration in health facilities has been rolled out to all health facilities in the country.
“In addition, Malawi’s commitment to birth registration rests in plans to register all children aged between 0 and 15 through a mass registration exercise scheduled for mid-next year.”
The registration of children will put Malawi on track towards implementing Sustainable Development Goal number 16.9 which talks about legal identity for all including birth registration.
Malawi issued national IDs to over nine million Malawians through a mass registration exercise and efforts are underway to rollout birth and death registration in all communities.
The conference of ministers draws together political leaders for departments of civil registration to discuss country commitments towards improving registration of birth and death (civil registration) in African Union (AU) member States.
Speaking during the official opening of the fifth conference in Lusaka, the Zambian Vice President InongeWina called on AU member States to fully implement civil registration as a foundation for a robust and sustainable legal identity system.
She reminded African leaders at the conference that implementing civil registration is the only sure way to integrate the African continent.
This year’s theme of the conference is Innovative Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System: Foundation for Legal Identity Management”.
