In response to a report titled “When Unicef violates its own code of conduct,” published in the Dhaka Tribune on July 11, the Unicef issued a statement.
The statement is as follows:
Ms Nobonita Chowdhury’s daughter’s photograph was used in the newspapers and on posters as a result of a regrettable misunderstanding between a consultant and our government counterpart working to promote Birth Registration in Bangladesh.
The partner took the photograph from the Facebook account of our consultant, who is a Facebook friend of Ms Chowdhury’s.
In this instance, neither the partner nor the consultant followed Unicef’s standard procedure and the organisation was not consulted before the material went to print. Both parties have realised their mistake and apologised. Unicef is not in the habit of using photographs without proper consent and, had we been consulted before the material was finalised, it would not have been approved.
We conveyed our sincere regrets for the unfortunate mistake related to the use of the photograph in a letter dated July 8 after Ms Chowdhury brought this to our attention on July 6. We also apologised for the continued use of the posters, which have now been removed by our partner.
It was never the intention of our partner or Unicef’s to cause unnecessary distress to the mother of a newborn child.
The photograph was used to encourage caregivers in Bangladesh to register their children’s birth.
The biggest challenge is to raise awareness among parents on the importance of timely birth registration. The annual celebration of National Birth Registration Day on July 3 and any related communication material are crucial in supporting this aim.
Bangladesh has made great strides in this area, resulting in the registration of over 110 million births on a computerised system.
However, evidence shows that despite this work, only 37% of the children under the age of five had their birth registered in 2013.
We hope that people will continue to value the importance of this issue and not get distracted by this unfortunate mistake and related newspaper article.
We must remember that birth registration is a right of all children.
A birth certificate is the primary document for identification of children and verification of their age.
It serves as a protection tool against child labour and child marriage, both of which are serious violations of children’s rights.
We want all babies to be registered at birth and to achieve universal birth registration in Bangladesh.
