Pakistan: The dates that the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) began issuing Child Registration Certificates (CRCs) to newly born children, by province and district (June 2002 - August 2005)
The issuance of the Child Registration Certificate (CRC) by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) is an initiative to replace what is known as "Form B" (Dawn 10 Jan. 2003), the manual birth registration system (ibid. 6 June 2002). The certificate includes the child's name, date of birth, place of birth, gender and registration number, the parents' names and their computerized national identity card numbers (Pakistan n.d.). According to NADRA, under this initiative "[i]t is the responsibility of every child's parents/guardian to register their children who are less than 18 years of age" (ibid.). The News reported that "the only prerequisite for obtaining a CRC is that the applicant's parents should be in possession of computerised national identity cards" (28 Feb. 2004). The CRC issuance process takes approximately one day, provided that the information supplied is verified and the parents registered their children with NADRA when they were obtaining their computerized national identity cards (ibid.; Daily Times 5 Dec. 2004).
In its second periodic report, which was submitted on 19 January 2001 under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the government of Pakistan stated that it was "considering computerizing the process of birth registration, so as to bring about accuracy, speed and efficiency in the system" (UN 11 Apr. 2003, para. 122). At the time of the report, the government had only just constituted the National Committee on the Registration of Child at Birth, which was mandated to "make suggestions for filling [in the] gaps in legislation," review existing laws and by-laws with a view to modernizing and bringing uniformity to them, and devise a mechanism for "ensuring full and compulsory birth registration in the country" (ibid., para. 120). More recent information on the status and activities of this Committee could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.
The following are dates of significant developments in the child registration process:
6 June 2002 - NADRA's director general for the province of Punjab, Brig Nadeem Qamar, announced that the computerized CRC would be introduced in June 2002 (Dawn 6 June 2002).
12 July 2002 - A pilot project on birth registration was introduced in four districts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP): Abbottabad, Mardan, Nowshera and Swabi (PPI 12 July 2002; ibid. 22 Oct. 2002.
10 January 2003 - NADRA's chairman, Saleem Ahmad Moeen, stated that the issuance of the CRC "would be launched countrywide once all bugs were removed" and that a pilot project was "already working at NSRC [NADRA swift registration centres] in the Rawalpindi cantonment area" (Dawn 10 Jan. 2003).
26 February 2003 - NADRA's media advisor, Jahanzeb Aziz, stated that a pilot project had begun at one of the swift centres at Islamabad (ibid. 26 Feb. 2003).
July 2003 - NADRA launched a facility for the issuance of the CRCs in Lahore city (The News 6 July 2003).
19 - 26 August 2003 - Issuance of CRCs stopped for a week due to a software problem (Dawn 19 Aug. 2003). In the interim, manual certificates were being issued (ibid.).
28 February 2004 - NADRA announced that as of 5 March 2004, CRCs would be issued through 158 swift registration centers across Pakistan (The News 28 Feb. 2004).
15 May 2004 - NADRA's chairman, Saleem Ahmad Moin, stated that the CRC program had been launched in Punjab (PakTribune 15 May 2004).
3 December 2004 - NADRA began issuing the CRC in Islamabad (Daily Times 5 Dec. 2004).
In February 2005, NADRA's chairman, Saleem A. Moeen revealed that only 20 per cent of births in Pakistan were being registered (PakTribune 17 Feb. 2005). Moeen pointed out that as a result of initiatives taken in NWFP, birth registration increased from 20 per cent to 86 per cent in three years (ibid.). Similar birth registration projects were also ongoing as at February 2005 in Punjab, Sindh and Baluchistan (ibid.). In Punjab, the chairman noted, a birth registration project was to be launched, which involved the computerization of all union councils in the province (ibid.).
Additional information on the dates that NADRA began issuing Child Registration Certificates to newly born children, by province and district, could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
Daily Times. 5 December 2004. "NADRA to Issue CRC Instead of Form B." (Google Cache) <http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_28-2-2004_pg7_15> [Accessed 24 Aug. 2005]
Dawn [Karachi]. 19 August 2003. "Intending Pilgrims to Get NICs Within 10 Days." (Google Cache) <http://www.dawn.com/2003/08/19/nat27.htm> [Accessed 24 Aug. 2005]
_____. 26 February 2003. Jahanzeb Aziz. "Computerizing Form B." <http://www.dawn.com/2003/02/26/letted.htm> [Accessed 26 Aug. 2003]
_____. 10 January 2003. "Nadra Has Issued 18.3m ID Cards: Chairman." <http://www.dawn.com/2003/01/10/top15.htm> [Accessed 26 Aug. 2003]
_____. 6 June 2002. "New ID Cards Before Polls." <http://www.dawn.com/2002/06/06/nat6.htm> [Accessed 26 Aug. 2003]
The News [Karachi]. 28 February 2004. "NADRA to Issue Child Registration Certificates." <http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/feb2004-daily/28-02-2004/metro/k7.htm> [Accessed 24 Aug. 2005]
_____. 6 July 2003. Syed Ali Abedi. "Beset with a Huge Task." <http://www.jang-group.com/thenews/jul2003-weekly/nos-06-07-2003/she.htm> [Accessed 26 Aug. 2003]
Pakistan. N.d. National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA). Children Registration Certificate. <http://www.nadra.gov.pk/crc.html> [Accessed 8 Aug. 2003]
Pakistan Press International (PPI). 22 October 2002. "Experts: Foreign Experts Visit Birth Registration Project." (Asia Pulse/Dialog)
_____. 12 July 2002. "Workshop (Workshop on Birth Registration Starts in Abbottabad)." (Asia Pulse/Dialog)
PakTribune. 17 February 2005. "NADRA Chief Unhappy over Dismal Birth Registration Rate." <http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=94404> [Accessed 24 Aug. 2005]
_____. 15 May 2004. "PML Unification Not Aimed at Early Polls: Jamali." <http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=65029> [Accessed 24 Aug. 2005]
United Nations (UN). 11 April 2003. Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties under Article 44 of the Convention: Second Periodic Reports of States Parties Due in 1997: Pakistan. (CRC/C/65/Add.21) <http://www.unhchr.ch/> [Accessed 2 Sept. 2003]
Additional Sources Consulted
Attempts to contact the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) in October 2003 and August 2005 were unsuccessful.
The High Commission of Pakistan, in Ottawa, did not respond to a letter requesting information.
Internet sites, including: BBC, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2004, European Country of Origin Information Network (ECOI), High Commission of Pakistan (Ottawa), Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), Human Rights Watch (HRW), Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN), Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Official Website), National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), World News Connection (WNC).