Safeguarding the rights of those at risk of statelessness
Safeguarding the rights of those at risk of statelessness
We first met Wanita last year when she shared that she did not have a birth certificate. She was one of the 2,000 Sama Bajaus who did not have a birth certificate and were at risk of statelessness. They did not see the value of having this document and feared that the processing of acquiring one would be costly.
“We didn’t have the confidence to go to government offices. We don’t know what to do,” Wanita said when we first met her.
This was a year ago. Wanita already received her birth certificate last 10 December 2019. For the first time, men, women and children of the Sama Bajau community in Zamboanga were given birth certificates by the Zamboanga government. This pilot birth registration project was spearheaded by the Zamboanga City local government and supported by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the United Nations Children’s Fund.
The pilot project which was launched last October 2019 helped Wanita and more than 200 Sama Bajaus acquire a birth certificate. It is said that there are more than 10,000 Sama Bajuas in Zamboanga, 85% of whom do not have a birth certificate due to their nomadic way of life.
“This pilot birth registration demonstrates the commitment of the Government of the Philippines toward achieving the SDGs, ‘leaving no one behind,” said Shinji Kubo, UNHCR Representative in the Philippines.
“A birth certificate will help the community assert their rights.Ensuring birth registration also supports our global initiativesto prevent statelessness.”
“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,” added Shinji Kubo.
The 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.