Report on the OVC breakfast meeting on right to property ... - Kelin
Report on the OVC breakfast meeting on right to property ... - Kelin
Report on the OVC breakfast meeting on right to property ... - Kelin
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Report</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> <strong>OVC</strong> C<strong>on</strong>sultative Breakfast Meeting<br />
experience of Nyumbani’s struggles <strong>to</strong> obtain birth certificates. The following issues were apparent in Sr. Owen’s presentati<strong>on</strong>:<br />
• Several children pass <strong>on</strong> without ever having <strong>the</strong>ir births recognised and nei<strong>the</strong>r do <strong>the</strong>y receive death certificates for<br />
<strong>the</strong>m.<br />
• Even where <strong>the</strong>re are chances of registrati<strong>on</strong> and c<strong>on</strong>sidering that <strong>the</strong>se children are orphans, <strong>the</strong> following<br />
documentati<strong>on</strong> was still required in order <strong>to</strong> register <strong>the</strong> children;<br />
- Death certificates of <strong>the</strong> parents<br />
- Birth Certificates of <strong>the</strong> parents<br />
- Nati<strong>on</strong>al Identify Cards for parents<br />
- Birth Notificati<strong>on</strong> of <strong>the</strong> child<br />
- Police Abstract<br />
• The children are looked down up<strong>on</strong>, discriminated and stigmatized for being HIV positive.<br />
• Charitable Children’s Homes still have difficulty satisfying guidelines requiring <strong>the</strong>m <strong>to</strong> obtain Committal documents<br />
from <strong>the</strong> court, Letter from <strong>the</strong> Children’s Department and a letter from <strong>the</strong> instituti<strong>on</strong> where <strong>the</strong> child is staying in<br />
order <strong>to</strong> process registrati<strong>on</strong> and identificati<strong>on</strong> documents for children under <strong>the</strong>ir care.<br />
• Policies and laws need <strong>to</strong> be changed or amended <strong>to</strong> accommodate <strong>the</strong> special circumstances of <strong>OVC</strong>s.<br />
• Currently, Nyumbani is faced with getting birth certificates for 663 children in Nyumbani Village as well as <strong>the</strong> 12 for<br />
Nyumbani Home children.<br />
• There are still a lot of difficulties when it comes <strong>to</strong> inheritance of <strong>property</strong> by <strong>OVC</strong>s of <strong>property</strong> and <strong>the</strong>refore <strong>the</strong>re is<br />
need for advocacy.<br />
• A clear user-friendly legal process needs <strong>to</strong> be put in place and more public awareness of <strong>the</strong> <strong>right</strong>s of <strong>the</strong>se children <strong>to</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong>ir <strong>property</strong> inheritance needs <strong>to</strong> be created so that <strong>the</strong> community can also provide cus<strong>to</strong>dianship and help prevent<br />
‘land grabbing’<br />
Sr. Owens ended her presentati<strong>on</strong> at 0937hrs<br />
Ms. Masha <strong>the</strong>n invited Lilian Njeru of CRADLE: To make her presentati<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> “Experiences On Working With <strong>OVC</strong>”.<br />
Lilian’s presntati<strong>on</strong> was more <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> legal perspectives of <strong>the</strong> experiences. Her presentati<strong>on</strong> highlighted <strong>the</strong> following<br />
important issues;<br />
• The procedure <strong>to</strong> be followed when a pers<strong>on</strong> dies<br />
depends <strong>on</strong> whe<strong>the</strong>r a pers<strong>on</strong> died testate or intestate.<br />
• The public trustee comes in when a pers<strong>on</strong> dies<br />
intestate and no <strong>on</strong>e comes forth <strong>to</strong> apply for letters of<br />
administrati<strong>on</strong> or where no execu<strong>to</strong>r is appointed<br />
• There are certain gaps in <strong>the</strong> law that are unfavorable<br />
<strong>to</strong> <strong>OVC</strong>s for example in cases of intestacy Secti<strong>on</strong><br />
32 of <strong>the</strong> Act excludes agricultural land and lives<strong>to</strong>ck<br />
from its realm and this provides fertile ground for<br />
discrimina<strong>to</strong>ry practices as it places <strong>the</strong> excluded<br />
Ms. Melba Katisvo and Ms. Ver<strong>on</strong>ica Omunga of <strong>Kelin</strong> listen keenly <strong>to</strong> Sr<br />
Owens’ speech.<br />
4