37. The Committee recommends that the State party continue and strengthen its efforts to ensure free and compulsory birth registration for all children. The Committee urges the State party:
(a) To raise public awareness about the importance of birth registration and existing legislation;
(b) To allocate adequate financial, human and other resources to ensure easy access to registration by population in rural areas, including by strengthening ongoing training programs for birth registration personnel and midwives;
(c) To urge midwives to report administratively all births and provide midwives with training on how to undertake such reporting;
(d) To amend the Birth, Death (Compulsory Registration) Act No. 69 of 1992 so as to ensure free birth registration regardless of the time of registration and, in the meanwhile, extend the three-year waiver (2005-2008) for payment fees permanently;
(e) To ensure that monitoring bodies, in particular state committees for birth registration, operate effectively, including through adequate resources;
(f) To conduct awareness-raising programs, notably through the media, in rural areas on the importance and benefits of birth registration.
Birth registration