Media activist: Nearly 90% of newborns in Aden have no birth certificates

ADEN, June 29 (YPA) – Aden-based media activist Abdulrahman Anis has reported that nearly 90% of newborns in Aden and other southern provinces have not received birth certificates over the past year.

He attributed the issue to a policy implemented by the Ministry of Interior in the government loyal to the Saudi-led coalition, which requires parents to obtain a new electronic ID card before a birth certificate can be issued.

Anis criticized the policy, claiming it prioritizes revenue generation over citizens’ rights.

“The fee for the new ID card is equivalent to a full month’s salary for a government employee,” he said, questioning whether a child’s right to legal identity should depend on bureaucratic fees.

He added that authorities in Aden refuse to issue a birth certificate for a child even if the father possesses a national ID and passport, unless the new electronic ID is obtained—considering the child’s identity to be at the mercy of the minister’s discretion rather than a guaranteed right of citizenship.

Anis further described the Interior Ministry’s decision as “a denial of one of the most basic human rights—the right to have a name and legal identity.”

He called the Interior Minister’s decision a blatant denial of one of the most fundamental human rights— “the right to have a name and legal identity on paper.”

Anis called the pro-coalition government as “ brutal and failed, accusing it of chasing people even at the moment of their child’s birth to impose a tax on their very first cry of life.”

@E.Y.M