• • • • • • • • Birth registration legislation and related acquisition laws need to be more sensitive and responsive to community realities. The Ministry of Health should be responsible for birth registration of minors, whilst the Ministry of Home Affairs could be responsible for persons beyond 18 years of age as this would ensure greater numbers of children getting registered at birth, with the exception of those delivered in homes. The clause on compulsory registration of children needs to be supported by enabling instruments that can help to enforce it. The right to a birth certificate should be included in the Zimbabwe constitution. The CRC and associated international legislation need to be domesticated into national legislation. The BDRA needs to increase the categories of people that can register the birth of children. These could be such senior community leaders as headmasters, doctors, nurses, chiefs and priests. Birth and death records should be computerized to allow someone, for instance born in Harare but now resident in Hurungwe, to obtain the long birth certificate near where he currently resides (and not ask people to travel to the areas/districts where they were born or districts of original registry); Amend BDRA to allow children in loco-parentis legal authority to register siblings (with testified support of their local leadership) 5.4 Administration • Enforce the mandatory birth registration of children (be they under guardianship or their parents); • Establish a public relations agency or an enquiries office at registrar general’s offices; • Birth registration cases should be assessed on their peculiarities and individually; • Information on documentation required for birth registration should be publicly accessible; • Widely and effectively announce mobile registration dates and times; • Engage local and traditional leaders to gather together communities and make them appreciate the need and necessity of birth registration; • Whilst national security concerns are critical to avoid the registration of nonZimbabweans willy-nilly, there is need for more strategic focus on national interests that consider the undesirability of having a huge unregistered population in the country. • Traditional and local leaders could keep records of the children born in their areas for authentification purposes when they need registration documentation and verification ; • Establish more mobile registration centres for peri-urban and rural areas; • Give headmen authority to provide verification letters for OVC; NGOs and other stakeholders should complement government and the RGs office through resource mobilization, technically resorting the necessary programmes and activities, and providing the requisite skill development. Birth Registration Research Report/2007 46