Refugee Children in Ethiopia Face Uncertain Future Due to Lack of Registration
A staggering 88 percent of refugee children in Ethiopia remain unregistered, leaving them vulnerable to severe protection risks and potential statelessness. According to the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), only 12 percent of the 576,000 refugee children in the country have been registered in the vital registration system.
The UNHCR has expressed concern over the lack of proper documentation, which severely limits access to essential services and legal protection for these vulnerable children. The agency attributes the low registration rate to resource constraints, inadequate infrastructure, and ongoing security challenges in the Oromia, Tigray, and Amhara regions. The COVID-19 pandemic has further complicated the process, creating backlogs in registration.
Despite Ethiopia’s efforts to establish legal frameworks, such as the 2017 Vital Events Registration Proclamation and the 2019 Refugee Proclamation, implementation remains limited, particularly in the Afar and Assosa regions. The UNHCR notes that these frameworks aim to ensure equal treatment in registration processes, but more needs to be done to address the current challenges.
In an effort to address these challenges, the Ethiopian government has launched an initiative to integrate refugees and asylum seekers into the national digital ID system. The program involves issuing digital refugee ID cards with a unique "Fayda" identification number, provided by the National ID Program (NIDP). This initiative uses biometric technology to prevent double registration and duplicate ID issuance.
Ethiopia is currently hosting over one million refugees and asylum seekers, including 60,688 new arrivals fleeing the conflict in Sudan since April 2023. The country is also managing 4.4 million internally displaced persons, according to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as of February 2024. The UNHCR’s warning highlights the urgent need for increased efforts to register refugee children and provide them with the necessary protection and services.
