Mozambique: Government issues ID cards to internally displaced persons – AIM

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Government issues ID cards to internally displaced persons – AIM

4:13 CAT | 13 May 2022

Photo: IOM Mozambique on Twitter

The Mozambican government, in cooperation with The European Union (EU), Germany and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has started to register internally displaced citizens in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Since October 2017, raids by jihadist terrorists in Cabo Delgado have left more than 800,000 people displaced from their homes. While fleeing from insecurity or natural disasters, thousands of people have lost their documentation.

This situation poses a risk to already vulnerable migrants and internally displaced populations, exposing them to other challenges such as restricted freedom of movement, harassment, family separation, discrimination, gender-based violence, or risk of statelessness, as well as hindering their access to basic services.

The Head of the Governance and Microeconomics Team of the EU delegation, Alicia Martin-Diaz, stated that “registration and birth certificates are a fundamental human right.”

According to Martin-Diaz, “initiating this process for internally displaced persons is an essential step in enabling them to access other official documents, such as identity cards, which open doors to their rights as citizens, and basic services such as education, employment, health, and access to land.”

Mozambique has a low rate of civil registration. Only 55 per cent of people have a birth certificate and only 38 per cent have an identity card.

In the areas of origin of these displaced people, most of the physical archives of legal identity documents were destroyed during attacks by the jihadists.

To reconstitute these files, and enable the displaced population and host communities to obtain civil documentation, the Ministry of Justice, in collaboration with IOM, plans to register 10,000 people in Balama district over a three-month period. This initiative will be made possible by providing equipment and strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of Justice’s registrars.

Thanks to @EU_FPI and @GermanyDiplo, IOM is supporting the Government of Mozambique in issuing birth certificates to 10,000 IDPs and members of the host communities in the district of Balama, #CaboDelgado.#LegalIdentityForAll #EUForeignPolicy

Read more: https://t.co/n6oG0ElTnu pic.twitter.com/0IZmsfZVZv

— IOM Mozambique (@IOM_Mozambique) May 12, 2022