[child-rights] Day of the African Child 2003: To each child, an identity

UNICEF Press release

NEW YORK, 16 June 2003 - UNICEF offices in dozens of countries are set to
celebrate the Day of the African Child today calling for the need to ensure
all children are registered at birth.

In 2002, 50 million newborns were denied their right to a legal identity.
Without a birth certificate, children have no official identity, no
recognized name and no nationality. In later life, the unregistered child
may be unable to apply for a passport or formal job, open a bank account,
get a marriage licence, stand for elective office or vote.

In 2002, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy said that birth
registration is one of the most important pieces of paper a person will
ever own. "If we do not get it right from the start and register babies, it
is an up-hill battle from there on. Unregistered children lack the most
basic protection against abuse and exploitation and become a more
attractive commodity to a child trafficker, illegal adoption rings, and
others who seek to take advantage of their non-status," she added.

In honour of the Day of the African Child, UNICEF offices are coordinating
dozens of events. The day marks a 1976 march in in Soweto South Africa,
when thousands of black school children took to the streets to protest the
inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught
in their own language. Hundreds of young boys and girls were shot down; and
in the two weeks of protest that followed, more than a hundred people were
killed and more than a thousand were injured.

To honour the memory of those killed and the courage of all those who
marched, the Day of the African Child has been celebrated on 16 June every
year since 1991, when it was first initiated by the Organization of African
Unity. The Day also draws attention to the lives of African children today.

* * *
For further information, please contact:

Jehane Sedky-Lavandero, UNICEF Media, New York, 212- 326 7269,
jsedky@unicef.org
Damien Personnaz, UNICEF Media, Geneva (41) 022 909 5517, dpersonnaz@unicef.org



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CONNECTIONS

* Find out more about the International Day of the African Child 2003:
http://www.hrea.org/feature-events/african-child-day-03.html

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