Digital birth registration of kids starts in Multan

MULTAN: The Local Government and Community Development’s Digital Birth Registration Cell Wednesday started digital registration of children in Multan to support the achievement of universal birth registration for children upto 17 years old.

The targeted completion is the obligation enshrined under the convention on the rights of the Child Digitization is one of the top most priorities of all four provinces for the enhanced provision of accessible and efficient services to its citizens. The UNICEF has funded the digital registration of children. The Multan DBRC has registered 10, 382 children during last two months.

According to officials, the highly equipped DBR Cell is hosting live data flows of birth registration applications for children in Multan.

Under the project, enhanced access for children to the birth registration service in targeted districts will be facilitated, primarily through leveraging the use of digital mobile phone technology.

Initially, the intervention was implemented in Pakpattan and Bahawalpur districts in 2017 and in 2018. Later, digital registration extended to eight additional districts identified by the Punjab government as demonstrating the lowest birth registration rates for children in the province.

The DBR cell project summary says the right of the child to birth registration is a fundamental right, and the UNICEF considers a birth registration certificate as a passport to protection for all children across the globe. The Unicef documents say the Birth Registration is also critical for a child’s safety in times of disaster and emergencies, it is easier to reunite registered children with their parents or caregivers compared to children whose births are not registered. To ensure that every child in Pakistan is registered and remains protected, Unicef is helping build the capacity of local authorities and communities on digital birth registration in seven districts of Punjab. The digital system enables quick and cost-free birth registration, saving parents the time and money they previously required in purchasing forms and submitting them to several offices after waiting in long lines. Under this project, UNICEF is imparting training to the UC secretaries and NRs on the use of android-based mobile phones and tablets for birth registration. The NRs visit families in their communities, using digital devices to enter data into the dashboard, which is verified by the UC secretary, who then issues a registration number to the child.

Addressing the DBR meeting ADC Headquarter Rana Ikhlaq Ahmed Ahmed said the Community Development Department is observing birth registration week from November 25. The DBR Cell has registered at least 2,164 in the last three days. The numbers of below than five years age children are 2, 36,000 registered in Multan district. The seven years old children are glistered to 7 47,000 in Multan.

HCBA Multan holds grand moot on 29th: The High Court Bar Association (HCBA) Multan is holding a grand conference on the provision of justice at HCBA’s conference hall on Friday (November 29) to discuss cases in perspective of the political situation of the country.

According to the HCBA Multan office-bearers, the association has invited Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa as chief guest. HCBA Multan president Malik Haider Osman said the SC judges, including justice Aminuddin Khan, will attend the moot. He said the HCBA Multan has invited all Chief Justices of High Courts to attend the conference.

The MHCBA has invited Lahore High Court Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan and all the judges of the LHC, he maintained. He said the bar has also invited District and Sessions Judges of eleven districts of south Punjab. He said the HCBA has invited key politicians from southern Punjab. Malik Osman said all associations have finalised all security arrangements and held meetings with district administrations as well as police department. He said the conference will begin at 4 pm until 7 pm.