Right to Identity
How would you feel if you lose all your identity proofs? No passport, no driving license and not even the birth certificate. Your world will be stopped. You won’t be allowed to do anything. Your life will be shattered. You will have to run hither-tether to prove your identity. Just can’t imagine, right? All this is only because they are an exhibit to your existence in this world.
Do you know that there are more than 24 million Asian kids have unregistered birth? The number goes to 20 million in Africa. In Somalia and Liberia only 3% of the kids below the age of five have birth certificates. In Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Tanzania and Ethiopia the count is nearly 10%. What will happen when these kids will grow up and will want to get good education and good futures? The situation is very alarming. In today’s world no one will believe that you exist until you have a proof for it. Such children are easy targets as child soldiers or domestic help. Some are also forced into prostitution and pornography. It becomes easier because they don’t have any identity. They cannot go to school hence the fall in the clasp such hideous acts against humanity. Refugee children are most subject to this type of identity issues. Even natural disasters cause a big problem in identity crisis of the affected people. Such kids are often termed as invisible Children or Stateless Children.
Identity means a name, surname, date of birth and nationality. Every individual has the right to have all of these because these things are going to stay with you all your life. If you have an identity means you are a legal person and you will be bestowed with all the rights of that nation’s constitution.
Absence of identity is like fuel to fire of the already unfortunate children. Already they are a part of many of life’s crisis and not having an identity deprives them of the facilities that are provided by the governments to poor kids. This is where the organizations have to take action.
The UN Convention on the rights of the Child describes that every child has a right to identity that includes nationality, name and family relations.
