Following the recent drive by the Department of National Registration Passports and Citizenship for parents to apply for birth certificates for their children, a request was made to the ACA Fact Checking Unit to investigate whether a child can be registered by a mother without the father’s presence, and, in that case, whose surname the child should carry.
Verification process ☑
To respond to the question, the ACA Fact Checking Unit visited the Department of National Registration, Passports and Citizenship. Our Fact Checkers were informed by interviewed officials that the Department uses the Birth and Death Registration Act of 1994, Chapter 51 of the Laws of Zambia to issue the birth certificates. The ACA fact checking unit then reviewed the Birth and Death Registration Act of 1994 and found the following:
1. Who has the right to birth certificate?
Every child has the right to a birth certificate irrespective of the circumstances of their birth
2. What information should be included in the registration of a child?
a. Part VI, Article 18 of the Birth and Death Registration ACT says the registration of a child must include the following information:
i. The name and place of birth,
ii. The name and surname of mother and father.
BUT
b. Part III Article 15, states that
i. A father has no obligation to give notice of the birth of a child born outside wedlock,
ii. and no person shall be registered as the father of a child except on the joint request of the mother and himself and only if he acknowledges in writing to the Registrar that he is the father of the child.
3. Who can register a child?
a. The birth of a child should be registered by the father or mother of the child
b. Only if neither the mother or father is able to give the necessary information, is one of the following persons entitled to give notice:
i. The occupier of the house or the person in charge of the hospital or institution where the child was born
ii. A person present at the birth
iii. The person now having charge of the child.
c. Single parents can register their child’s birth, but children born outside of marriage shall not be registered as legitimate. If the child is born out of wedlock, a Form 11 will need to be completed.
4. Whose Surname Can be Registered as the Surname of the Child?
Part VI Article 18 (3) of the substantive law states that,
a. the surname registered should be the one that, on the date of registration, is intended to be carried by the child. In other words, once a surname is registered, that is the official and legal surname of the child.
b. If a Christian [First] name is not given, the Registrar shall enter the surname preceded by a horizontal line.
c. By inference, the person registering the birth can determine what surname the child is registered by. This means the child can be given any surname chosen by the person registering the birth, even the name of the man who has not given consent to be registered as the father.
d. If the child was born outside marriage, a man cannot be registered on any record or particulars of the birth as the father, unless the mother of the child and the person acknowledging himself to be the father sign and submit a completed form of return, as informants.
Overall Findings 🔍🔎
An unmarried mother can register a child on her own without the consent or presence of the father. The mother can decide what surname the child is registered by. The mother can, if she decides, register the child with the surname of the man she says is the father whether he consents or not. HOWEVER a man can only be included on the birth certificate as father, if he gives written consent.
ACA Fact Checking Unit: Building a questioning public.
The ACA Fact checking Unit is part of the EU funded ‘Speak up Zambia Project’ implemented in collaboration with the Free Press Unlimited and the House of consciousness.