Antiquated rules putting children's rights at risk

Amid an increase in families with diverse backgrounds, the number of children and youths without household registration papers has also risen, a problem that the Ministry of the Interior is beginning to address.

The number of children born to foreign spouses and unmarried mothers is increasing, said Huang Pi-hsia (黃碧霞), director of the ministry's Child Welfare Bureau.

A growing proportion of children therefore have no household registration, no identification papers, no legal name, no school to attend and no health insurance coverage, Huang said.

This situation was in violation of the children's rights, and the ministry would be taking measures to ensure the protection of these children, she said.

The issue was raised in late March during the ministry's first Children and Youths Welfare Promotion Committee conference.

A response was announced at the committee's second conference yesterday that included the drafting of stricter regulations by the Department of Health and the ministry's Department of Population in reporting births.

Once cases of unregistered children are discovered, local governments are required to collect data and report the cases to the ministry, said Su Ching-chao (蘇清朝), deputy director of the population department.

Since January, seven cases of children without household registration have been registered, another seven are being processed, while seven more have stalled, Su said.

The "stalled cases" were problematic because of the unusual circumstances facing the unregistered children, he said.

Su said some children are born to mothers who disappear soon after the birth, while their fathers' identity remains unknown. These cases take much longer to process because the necessary information is harder to obtain, he said.

Officials do not have an estimate of the total number of unregistered children in the country.