Mass Belgian support the universal birth registration campaign

More than 20,000 people signed a petition in support of universal birth registration as part of an action week in Belgium. This was the culmination of a hugely successful and hectic week of activities for the universal birth registration campaign in Belgium.

Apart from a petition calling for backing for the campaign, the action week also saw considerable media coverage of the issue – from national and regional television and national radio to major national newspapers and magazines.

Plan representatives were also invited to explain the issues surrounding universal birth registration to the minister of development and cooperation, who promised to include the issue in the next policy paper. A meeting of the Senatorial Commission on Foreign Affairs unanimously supported the idea of the registration of children as a crosscutting theme in Belgium’s official development cooperation; along with fair trade, sustainability and gender, the registration of children is to become the fourth major focus of Belgian development cooperation.

More than 60 Belgian schools worked on the theme during the action week and Plan Belgium hosted a photo exhibition from a leading photographer on universal birth registration in Burkina Faso. The exhibition, which was opened by the secretary of state for sustainable development, toured the whole of Belgium.