Maputo, Mozambique — The Mozambican government has commenced a comprehensive Free Birth Registration campaign, aiming to reach approximately 7 million citizens. This initiative, set to span from March 23rd to December 31st, is a response to the significant number of people without legal identification in the country. The campaign is set to register 25,000 citizens daily through the deployment of up to 500 mobile brigades. These brigades will travel to various districts, administrative posts, and localities to provide birth registration and issue identification documents.
According to Justice Minister Mateus Saize, the campaign is designed to tackle the “critical deficit in birth registration and the high number of citizens without legal identification.”The operation will be conducted by technical teams from the Justice Ministry, responsible for civil registration and birth certificates, alongside agents from the Ministry of the Interior, who will issue Identity Cards. All services under this campaign are to be provided free of charge.
The costs for this extensive operation are being funded by the EDGE Project Mozambique, a Digital Governance initiative supported by the World Bank. This initiative is seen as a step towards rectifying the current situation where, despite identity cards being compulsory in theory, a large portion of the population lacks them.
Source: allafrica
