An identity for baby Isabel

Marcelino (28) and Juana (22) are peasants in Cusco, Peru. Recently their 8-month-old baby, Isabel, was refused specialised medical attention because neither parent had an identity document. Even worse, the child had no birth certificate. They were devastated.

"My work as a stonecutter erased my prints," said Marcelino, gazing at his thick worn hands and fingers. This is the reason he gives for not having a legal identity. Now, after the emergency with their baby, he realises the importance of a document that certifies his name.

Like Marcelino and Juana, many in Peru lack identity documents and thus have no access or entitlement to basic services. Confronting this situation is Plan and RENIEC, the Peruvian National Registration of Identity.

Both organisations are committed to registering all undocumented people with a birth certificate: the document that lets them obtain a DNI (identity card) which certifies a name and all access to private and government services.

Specialised personnel from RENIEC have visited the most remote Peruvian communities to register all the people unable to obtain a DNI or a birth certificate, and allow them to enjoy full citizenship.   
   
Twenty days after RENIEC visited the Mollomarca community, baby Isabel received her birth certificate.

Marcelino has decided to give up stonecutting and start harvesting corn, and has also taken steps to obtain his DNI.