Maputo — The Mozambican Justice Ministry has launched a campaign for Free Birth Registration in order to promote citizens' access to civil identification.

The project, which is expected to cover about 7 million people, will register 25,000 citizens per day.

The campaign, scheduled to run from 23 March to 31 December, will be carried out by up to 500 mobile brigades, which will travel to communities to carry out birth registration and the issuing of identification documents.

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According to Justice Minister Mateus Saize, cited in a statement addressed to civil registry offices, the measure is aimed at responding to the "critical deficit in birth registration and the high number of citizens without legal identification in the country.'

"The brigades will operate in districts, administrative posts, and localities, aiming to reach citizens who, for various reasons, lack access to formal services. The initiative intends to reverse the traditional model, bringing services directly to the population", reads the note.

The technical teams include officials from the Justice Ministry, responsible for civil registration and issuing birth certificates, and agents from the Ministry of the Interior, who will simultaneously issue Identity Cards.

All services provided under this campaign will be free of charge. "Civil registry offices have been instructed to ensure the free registration of all requests submitted during the period the measure is in effect", reads the document.

The costs of the operation will be funded by the EDGE Project Mozambique, which is a World Bank-funded Digital Governance initiative, focused on digital identification, public services, and the digital economy.

This could be a step towards ending the absurd situation whereby identity cards are, in theory, compulsory, but vast numbers of citizens do not possess them.