Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines ENDO Kazuya and the Head of the Philippines UNHCR Office Maria Ermina Valdeavilla-Gallardo signed and exchanged notes concerning the grant aid project for Promoting Digital Birth Registration of Populations at risk of Statelessness in Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on Tuesday

Japan’s grant provision amounts to 858 million yen ($5.5 million) and will help to provide the equipment necessary for digital birth registration and technical assistance to local government officials responsible for birth registration. 

It will enable awareness-raising activities on birth registration among the population in areas where birth registration is not advanced. It is believed that promoting birth registration in the Bangsamoro Muslim Mindanao Autonomous Region will contribute to peace and development in Mindanao through the protection of the fundamental rights of the people in the region, as well as social stabilization.

The Bangsamoro Muslim Mindanao Autonomous Region in the southern Philippines has fallen behind in socio-economic development because of the long-standing conflict, and is in a state of serious poverty, particularly among internally displaced persons, former combatants, and local ethnic minorities. A particular challenge is the lack of access to basic education, social insurance, and other administrative services for those most in need, due to the lack of progress in birth registration.