Under the technical coordination of the Cabinet for Children and Adolescents (GANA), the National Council for Children and Adolescents (Conani), the Central Electoral Board (JCE) and the Ministry of the Presidency (Minpre), 14 institutions renewed the “Interinstitutional Cooperation Framework Agreement for the Birth Registration Inside and Outside the Deadline”, period 2026-2030.
The purpose is to continue the efforts to universalize birth registration within the legal period, through the registration of Dominican boys and girls from birth.
The agreement also transfers the general coordination of the Conani Articulation and Monitoring Committee to the JCE, in recognition of its constitutional and legal role as governing body of the Civil Registry and competent authority in matters of identity and marital status.
The document was signed by the heads of the participating entities and had the signature, as instrumental witnesses, of the first lady and honorary president of GANA, Raquel Arbaje; representing the Minister of the Presidency, José Ignacio Paliza, the Vice Minister of Development and Social Participation, María del Pilar Cañas; and by the president of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) and the Council of the Judiciary (PJ), Luis Henry Molina, magistrate Nancy Salcedo.
Among the signatory institutions are the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance, the National Health Service (SNS), the General Directorate of Strategic and Special Projects of the Presidency (Propeep), the Public Ministry, the Ministry of Education (Minerd), the National Institute of Comprehensive Early Childhood Care (Inaipi), the Directorate of Social Development Supérate and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).
These entities committed to the execution of a new action plan that prioritizes free legal support and the reduction of under-registration gaps in vulnerable communities, indicates a press release.
He states that, during his speech at the signing ceremony, Arbaje urged not to give up until absolutely no Dominican boy or girl leaves the hospital where they were born without their birth certificate, because an infant without a birth certificate will find it difficult to go to school to receive their first education.
“With this renewal, we are providing continuity and consolidating a public policy that guarantees that all Dominicans can fully exercise the rights enshrined in our Constitution and our laws,” highlighted the First Lady.
While the executive president of Conani, Ligia Pérez Peñaexplained that thanks to the efforts made within the framework of the first agreement, the registration processes from health establishments were strengthened through the full coverage of delegations of Civil Status Officers in the country’s maternal and child hospitals and their progressive expansion to other private health centers.
“This effort was accompanied by the modernization of processes, the strengthening of technical capacities and important advances in the implementation of the Unique Identity Number (NUI), contributing to more efficient management of records from birth,” he stated.
He also cited that comprehensive documentation days, inter-institutional referral protocols, training processes aimed at key actors and systematic mechanisms for monitoring, evaluation and follow-up of the action plans agreed between the signatory institutions were promoted.
During the event, the president of the JCE, Román Jáquez Liranzo, valued the signature as a vital fact that marks the starting point of a person’s legal existence and becomes the bridge for the exercise of their fundamental rights from their first moments of life and from their first cry.
“The goal is to continue with what we have done: that every boy or girl born in a public hospital or private clinic leaves with their birth certificate under their arm,” he said.
He expressed that, in this context, the JCE wants to recognize Civil Registry officials for their efficient and upright work as immediate and direct guardians and guarantors of the Civil Registry, especially of the birth records of Dominican boys and girls, in an attempt to suddenly eliminate under-registration in the Dominican Republic.
Results for the period 2021-2025
One of the most relevant results of the agreement in force in the period 2021-2025 is the sustained improvement in birth registration levels in hospitals, going from coverage close to 61% in 2018 to levels above 90% in 2025.
Among the achievements cited in the press statement are the awareness-raising of more than 700,000 pregnant women, the implementation of the “Express Route”—which benefited more than 4,000 people with documentary difficulties—and the guarantee that each maternal and child hospital today has a delegation from the Civil Status Office.
Strategic commitments for 2030
This agreement, which consolidates the progress made since its first signature in 2021, seeks to definitively eradicate civil underregistration in the Dominican Republic through a focus on technological interoperability and regulatory adaptation.
The new agreement contemplates the strengthening of territorial governance and technological integration through the creation of the Conani Registration System for Children and Adolescents (Sirenna), which will allow interoperability between the information systems of the institutions of the National Protection System.
