N AT I O N A L I N Q U I R Y R E P O R T ZIMBABWE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION For Human Dignity “I went to South Africa in 2000 and had children in 2003 and 2004. I brought them home. My father was constantly calling me to come and obtain the birth certificates for the children. He told me that there were people from Harare who could assist him to obtain them in Harare. When I came back and wanted to apply for passports for the children, I was told the birth certificates were fake and needed cancellation, and the father must be present but I separated with the father. I cannot locate the father; he last came to Zimbabwe 8 years ago. I was customarily married to the children’s father. The children were registered in my name and the father’s but the birth certificates were fake. The children have birth cards from South Africa”. 38 female witness from Bulawayo Province 3.2.8. One or both parent(s) deceased or unknown whereabouts “The family challenge is poor family relationships. We have cases where maternal relatives are reluctant to assist the biological father of the child to register his children when the mother is deceased. The birth and death procedure manuals states that it is a requirement for maternal relatives to facilitate in the registration of a child if the biological mother is deceased or if her whereabouts are not known. It is the duty of family members to register children of their deceased relative. We also have cases where both maternal and paternal relatives do not cooperate to facilitate birth registration of children under their custody. This challenge is mainly caused by poor family relations which emanate from lobola issues.” Provincial Registrar, Mashonaland West Province. “I have a son who needs a birth certificate. I separated with his mother about 5 years ago. The mother was not given a birth confirmation record because we had not paid the 600 dollars bill for a caesarian section. I went to Parirenyatwa maternity hospital intending to get a birth confirmation record but they said they could not give me in the absence of the mother.” 44-year-old male witness Hartcliffe Harare Metropolitan Province. CHAPTER FOUR: DOCUMENTATION AND SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS CHILDREN “…… in terms of the impact of the lack of documentation. we found that lack of birth certificates, lack of passports, lack of national identification documents affects children emotionally and psychologically. It actually has a dent on their self-esteem. The lack of those documents impacts their knowledge of who they are”. Female Provincial Social Welfare Officer, Mashonaland East Province “We work with people who are living with HIV. We have people who die and leave children behind. The children are at times taken care of by the elderly or the single fathers who face challenges in accessing the documents for the child. We have realized that the orphans are struggling to obtain the Birth Certificate due to the restrictive requirements. Sometimes the distances to reach the RG office are approximately 100km. Therefore, this becomes a barrier hindering the grandparents or guardian of the child to travel or ferry witnesses to the RG office. There are also instances where a person dies and the relatives are in a feud over the estate thus adversely affecting the children when attempts are made to obtain birth certificates. Not having a Birth Certificate also affects the children’s schooling leading to an increase of drop outs which also leads to child marriages. The children born out of these child marriages are also un-documented. We have partners who approach us with scholarships but those without birth certificates do not succeed in benefiting from these scholarships.” National Aids Council Male Representative, Centenary, Mashonaland Central. ORPHANS “I have tried acquiring a birth certificate for the past 20 years, the RG tells me to go to my rural home to get witnesses but I have explained that I am an orphan and I do not have relatives to assist me as I am an only child. My uncles and aunts are deceased and their children are younger than me and have no background information to assist me. I have 6 children who all do not have birth certificates.” 45-year-old female witness, Bulawayo Province “I am assisting a child headed family with children aged 8 and 5 years who do not have birth certificates. The parents passed away due to HIV AIDS in the same week. These children do not have relatives to assist them. They have been to the RGs office and were turned back because they failed to meet the requirements. I have contacted the social welfare department to raise this case with them and even left my contact details but to date, social welfare has not done anything concerning the matter.” Facilitator and community-based worker for the National Aids Council (NAC), Bulawayo Metropolitan Province . 87 87