Pushing for changes in the law in Malawi

Plan has lobbied for a change in the law in Malawi to ensure that birth registration is made compulsory; 90 per cent of Malawian children are not registered because it is not obligatory.
As part of the campaign for universal birth registration, Plan called for a new law to replace the country’s outdated colonial legislation going back to 1904, which only applies to white settlers and Asians living in Malawi.

Plan Malawi urged the government to speed up the passage of a new bill that sought to introduce compulsory birth, marriage and death registration.
Plan Malawi country director, Simba Machingaidze, said: "A birth certificate paves the way for a national identity yet both of these are strikingly absent in Malawi. When addressing the issue of child protection from abuse and exploitation it is important to identify who a child is in the first place."