Ambassador Tetsuya KIMURA Participated in the Completion Ceremony of Mobile Birth Registration in Suni Ufe village, Nitibe Sub-Region, Oécusse-Ambeno (RAEOA)
2022/12/19
Ambassador Kimura and a mother who registered her child
Ambassador handed over the birth certificate
Traditional reception
On December 19th, 2022, Mr. Tetsuya KIMURA, Ambassador of Japan to Timor-Leste, participated in the completion ceremony for mobile birth registration in Suni Ufe village, Nitibe Sub-Region, Oecusse-Ambeno (RAEOA). The ceremony was co-hosted by UNICEF, Child Fund, and RAEOA Office of Civil Registry and Notary. Mrs. Leonia da Costa Monteiro, Regional Secretary Deputy President for Institutional Strengthening Affairs, Mr. Antonio Hermenegildo da Costa, Regional Secretary for Land and Property, Ms. Ainhoa Jaureguibeitia, Deputy Representative of UNICEF, and Mr. João Borges, National Director of Civil Registry and Notary, Ministry of Justice, local leaders, community members, children and a person with disability joined Ambassador Kimura in the ceremony.
Ambassador Kimura in his remarks highlighted the importance of birth registration for children: “In order for the young people to enroll in schools, they must be registered at birth. Even before that, in order to be healthy and resilient enough to go to school, they need to receive the necessary vaccines, which also requires registration at birth. As such, birth registration is a fundamental right and is enshrined in Article 7 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.”
The birth registration project was implemented from September 2020 to December 2022 in the Municipalities of Lautem, Manatuto, Ermera, Manufahi, Covalima, Bobonaro, and RAEOA. The mobile birth registration team visited 114 villages and 490 sub-villages in the seven municipalities and registered 37,511children. The objective of the project was to ensure registration and issuance of birth certificates for children 0 to 5 years of age born in rural areas, including those who are born to parents with disabilities who have difficulty in accessing civil registration centers in municipal towns.
For this project, the Government of Japan provided a total of US$2.5 million to the Government of Timor-Leste, administered by UNICEF. The project is implemented by Child Fund and the Ministry of Justice of Timor-Leste.
Ambassador Kimura in his remarks highlighted the importance of birth registration for children: “In order for the young people to enroll in schools, they must be registered at birth. Even before that, in order to be healthy and resilient enough to go to school, they need to receive the necessary vaccines, which also requires registration at birth. As such, birth registration is a fundamental right and is enshrined in Article 7 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.”
The birth registration project was implemented from September 2020 to December 2022 in the Municipalities of Lautem, Manatuto, Ermera, Manufahi, Covalima, Bobonaro, and RAEOA. The mobile birth registration team visited 114 villages and 490 sub-villages in the seven municipalities and registered 37,511children. The objective of the project was to ensure registration and issuance of birth certificates for children 0 to 5 years of age born in rural areas, including those who are born to parents with disabilities who have difficulty in accessing civil registration centers in municipal towns.
For this project, the Government of Japan provided a total of US$2.5 million to the Government of Timor-Leste, administered by UNICEF. The project is implemented by Child Fund and the Ministry of Justice of Timor-Leste.