Stateless and unseen: Hidden lives of millions in Pakistan

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KARACHI: Ahmed Raza is hidden in the eyes of his government, unable to get education or work because like millions of other Pakistanis, they do not have identification papers.

In the South Asian nation consisting of more than 240 million people, parents usually wait until a child starts a school at the age of five to get a birth certificate, which is needed to register in most parts of Pakistan.

Raza slipped from the cracks until the end of the elementary school, but when his middle school requested the documents, his mother had no choice but to withdraw it.

“If I go to work, they ask for my identity card. Without it, they refuse to give me a job,” said a 19 -year -old man in the southern economic capital Karachi.

When the police stopped the police at the checkpoints, he was already arrested twice for failing to present the identity card.

Raza’s mother Mary Sulaiman, who is unregistered, said she “could not understand the importance of possessing identity documents”.

The 55 -year -old widow told AFP a room: “I had no idea that I would face such difficulties in my life later.

Pakistan launched biometric ID cards in 2000 and registration is needed rapidly in all aspects of regular life, especially in cities.

In 2021, the National Database and the Registration Authority estimated that about 45 45 million people were not registered. They have refused to release the latest data or repeatedly respond to the AFP entities.

Registration La Rag, Raza needs his mother or uncle’s documents – an expensive and complex process in his age, which often requires a doctor, lawyer or newspaper notice.

He says the cost of this paperwork is up to $ 165 – a month and a half of the revenue for both of them, which receives household chores and strange jobs in the grocery store.

Locals whispered that registration often requires bribery, and some suggest that the black market offers the last resort.

“If we had our own identity card, our lives would be different,” Raza said.

‘No time or money’

In remote Punjab villages like Rajanpur, UNICEF is trying to prevent people from falling into luck like Raza.

They go from house to house and run a registration campaign, and warn parents that non -documentary children face more risk of children’s labor and forced marriage.

According to official data, currently 58 % of children under the age of five do not have birth certificates.

Registration fees depend on the province, which is free, from $ 70 to $ 0.70 to $ 70 – still a burden for many Pakistanis, of which about 45 45 % are in poverty.

“Our men have no time or money to go to the council and lose a day’s work,” said Nazia Hussein, the mother of two unregistered children.

“The slow process,” often requires numerous visits and “there is no means of transportation for a woman,” he said.

Saba, who belongs to the same village, is determined to register her three children, which starts her in -laws at its cost.

“We do not want our children’s future to be like our past. If children go to school, the future will be bright,” Saba said, who are just a name.

According to UNICEF, campaigns in the village have increased the registration rate of birth from 6.1 % in 2018. According to UNICEF.

This will improve the future of a whole generation, he believes that UNICEF’s Child Protection Officer, Zahida Manzoor, left for the village.

“If the state does not know that the child is present, he cannot provide basic services,” he said.

“If a child is not identified, it means that the state has not recognized their existence. The state is not planning for services that the child will need after birth.”

Mohammed Herses and his brother, whose mountainous province has had some talks with the state in their border village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, have not registered any of their eight children.

“The government seeks documents for a visa in Mecca,” he told AFP, “he told AFP,” After a lifetime savings, a trip was usually made.

This is the only reason for this, which is worthy of registration.