LEBANON / REFUGEES BIRTH REGISTRATION

Important changes to Lebanese regulations over the past year have made it possible to register the births of over 50,000 Syrian refugee children born in Lebanon since the conflict started in 2011. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:47
• Production Date: 15 August 2018
• Asset Language: English
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: REFUGEES
• Geographic Subject: LEBANON; SYRIA
• MAMS Id: 2217733
• Parent Id: 2217733
• Alternate Title: unifeed180815a

Description

STORY: LEBANON / REFUGEES BIRTH REGISTRATION
TRT: 1:47
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNHCR ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ARABIC /NATS

DATELINE: 27 MARCH 2018, GHAZIYEH /MAGHDOUCHE /BAYSARIYEH, SOUTH LEBANON

Shotlist

1. Close up, little girl playing with photos
2. Close up, passport photos of a family
3. Close up, baby in his walker.
4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammad al-Masry, Syrian refugee:
“I am unable to do any legal documents for my children because I don’t have the family booklet. I have to do it in Syria, but it is difficult to go there now.”
5. Wide shot, IRC legal officer explaining t about the new papers.
6. Med shot, Mohamed and his daughter looking at the paper.
7. Close up, the legal document.
8. Wide shot, family inside room.
9. Close up, daughter’s face.
10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Firaz, Syrian Refugee:
“UNHCR helped me register my daughter Yara. Her birth registration was 3 years overdue.”
11. Close up, Firaz’s new born.
12. Med shot, Firaz’s family sitting on mattress.
13. Close up, Firaz’s face.
14. Med shot, Firaz sitting with the legal officer from IRC
15. Close up, the birth document.
16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mohammad Jarjowi, legal officer, International Rescue Committee:
“We are now able to process the birth certificate and register it at the foreign registry even when the child has passed the one-year deadline.”
17. Med shot, Mukhtar behind his desk.
18. Close up, birth certificate.
19. Close up, Mohammed’s daughter.
20. Med shot, Mohamad and legal office from rescue.
21. Med shot, Mohamed and his wife and children.
22. Close up, Mohamed’s baby daughter.

Storyline

Important changes to Lebanese regulations over the past year have made it possible to register the births of over 50,000 Syrian refugee children born in Lebanon since the conflict started in 2011.

New rules remove need for costly court process for unregistered births in Lebanon, easing access to education, health and other services for more than 50,000 children.

In Lebanon, if the birth of a child is not registered with the Nofous office (local registry office) before the child turns one, a lengthy and often costly court procedure is required to complete the birth registration process retroactively.

The judicial process can cost over US$1,500 – far beyond the means for many refugees, who face increasingly difficult economic and social conditions and often prioritize more urgent expenses over registration. But recently the Government of Lebanon adopted an important measure to facilitate birth registration of Syrian refugees born in Lebanon after 2011. Then, in March 2018, the Personal Status Department issued instructions stating that the birth of Syrian children born in Lebanon between 1 January 2011 and 8 February 2018 is to be registered through administrative procedures. This includes children whose birth was not registered within the one-year deadline. Syrian refugee Firaz has recently benefited from this measure and is relieved to finally register his four-year-old daughter, Mimas.