we are childrenwe are world

We are the children...we are the world

"The Bush administration is expected to allow children aged 15 or

younger with parental consent to be allowed to cross the borders at

land and sea entry points with a certified copy of their birth

certificates rather than passports." AP Feb 22 2007

The above news reminds me of the children who have no birth

certificates. Generally, a registered hospital or clinic provides

birth certificate as soon as a child was born. However, I wonder how

many illegal Burmese migrant women in Thailand have a chance to

delivery their offsprings in those Thai hospitals and clinics.

Usually, they come to an unregistered clinic known as Dr Cynthia's Mae

Toe Clinic which welcomes every human being indiscriminately.

A piece of paper that the clinic provides to the patient is called a

birth record which includes a signature of a nurse or mid-wife from

the clinic with records such as birth time and date, weight of an

infant and name of the mother. The data of those child births were

kept on old and low quality papers of the clinic which often has to

negotiate with Thai authorities to get a tiny space on the land of

Thai people.

On the crowded market streets of Mae Sot, many children in dirty

outfits are meandering. Those country-less children were born in

Thailand. They are not only neglected by their illegal migrant parents

from Burma but also both of the Burmese and Thai governments. No one

except child traffickers cares their existence. Often, those children

are gazing around the snack bars. Sometimes, they are staring at other

children who are in Thai school uniforms and waiting for their school

bus coming.

Those pictures generated an idea to a group of people who founded the

Committee for Protection and Promotion of Child Right (Burma) or

CPPCR. Currently, the committee is providing a birth certificate and

child certificate with the approval of Dr. Cynthia Maung who is a head

of the Mae Tao Clinic and chair of the committee.

Although the Mae Sot Burmese migrants these days receive the CPPCR

approval birth-certificates and can send their children to schools in

Mae Sot, the CPPCR is still facing many barriers and ways to overcome

their issued birth-certificates to be recognized as legal and be fully

used locally and internationally. In this situation, the CPPCR

certificates are, meantime, helping to protect chidren from those

unscrupulous child traffickers and child sex exploiters in the border

town.

One day, I believe that our innocent children will have a chance to

become a full citizen of a peaceful country where they can fly as far

as they can.