Interior Police commence birth, migrant registrations

As the influx of Venezuelan migrants continues, with many of them settling in the interior locations, Police ranks have since been mandated with the duty of registering persons upon entry in the country along with registering births.
Speaking with Guyana Times on Saturday, Commander of F Division, (Interior locations), Kevin Adonis said that a number of children who are being registered were actually born in Guyana and were taken to Venezuela. He said that among the challenges ranks are facing is that these parents never sought to obtain relevant documents such as birth certificates or passports for the children before leaving with them and are now seeking the requisite documentation.
“In the Eteringbang, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) area, many children do not go to school and we are registering them. That is an area where most Venezuelans or Guyanese who went to Venezuela and returned went there…a lot of them [children] were born in Guyana and were taken to Venezuela but do not have any documentation so they are being registered to that effect by our police stationed in that area too,” the Commander said.
Guyana Times was further told that police officers who are stationed at that location were recently trained to conduct various types of registration for those entering Guyana from Venezuela. They were also trained to accommodate Guyanese who had migrated to Venezuela and are now returning.
“So for the children, we are doing the birth registration, so that they can have official paperwork and can be admitted to schools etc. Some of the older ones, they were born here, but don’t know anything about here or didn’t even know so we are getting the right documents for them. It is a lot of work but we were given that task and will do it to the best of our abilities,” the Commander added.
Just last month, the Ministry of Citizenship, the General Registrar’s Office (GRO) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) had announced the intention of training officers in border locations to conduct registration of births.
According to a release from that Ministry at that time, the Eteringbang community in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) has been identified as the first location where officers will be trained.
The decision came following a meeting of the National Multi-Sectoral Coordinating Committee.
Eteringbang, Minister Winston Felix had informed, would be used as a pilot before registration is rolled out in other border locations.