December 11, 06

NEWS / Over one fourth of Dominican poor lack an I.D.

SANTO DOMINGO.- Dominican Electoral Board (JCE) president Julio Cesar Casta?os today revealed that 27% of the Dominicans described as poor don??™t have an identity because they lack a birth certificate.

"Here there are people who don??™t have a name, only nicknames, and the State has the obligation of being the guardian of those people," he said,

The electoral said that the solution to that problem is one of the present JCE??™s objectives, but to provide birth certificates to all Dominicans, a chronogram is necessary because it cannot be done in one blow.

Interviewed by Juan Bolivar Diaz and Adriana del Conte on Teleantillas Channel 2, Casta?os said that the lack of documentation prevents that many of those poor families benefit from the Government??™s Solidarity program, warning that the lack birth certificate is an increasingly growing problem and that could pose a serious situation for society.

The official proposed a plan where several Government agencies headed by the JCE to, in a relatively short time provide a birth certificate for each Dominican, affording them the opportunity of obtaining an identity card (cedula).

Tags: birth certificates, birth certificat, document, birth certificate,