VOA慢速英语2014 亚太地区数百万新生儿未注册身份

 

AS IT IS 2014-09-10 Millions Born Unregistered in Asia Pacific 亚太地区数百万新生儿未注册身份

About 135 million young children in East Asia and the Pacific have not been registered with any government agency. That leaves them unable to claim national identities. Such identification is often a requirement for rights and government services.

Too many people still live and die without leaving an official record. Government ministers from Asian and Pacific countries will be asked later this year to agree on giving recognition to every child. It would start with registering their births as part of an effort to guarantee civil registration¹ and records for everyone.

The ministers are to meet in Bangkok in late November.

Stephen Blight² is the child protection regional advisor³ for the United Nations’ Children’s Fund. He says the lack of a legal identity can create big problems.

“Increasingly in the modern world, you need to prove your age and you need to prove your identity in order for opportunities to be open to you.”

These include getting such important documents as passports and driving permits, getting a job or dealing⁴ with a bank. A lack of identification can be a barrier to getting something as simple as a telephone.

Jonathan Marskell works for the UN’s Economic and Statistics Commission for Asia and the Pacific. He says that for those who are unregistered, it is less likely that their children will be registered.

“And so it creates a cycle of invisibility or under-registration. And this affects particular populations that might be on the margins⁵ of society already.”

Recording⁶ personal information not only gives the registrants the right to government services. It helps to guarantee their basic rights. It also provides valuable information into the age and the health of the population.

Even records of deaths are important. Understanding why and where people are dying can help fight disease and reduce child deaths. Yet the World Health Organization says nine of every 10 people in Asia and the Pacific live in countries lacking trustworthy death records.  

Anis Chowdhury is the director of the statistics division at the UN’s Economic and Statistics Commission. He is making an appeal to the media in developing countries to publicize the registration effort.

“Many people don’t know that they have the right (to registration). And that is an issue media can help us to create the awareness⁷.”

More than 100 developing countries still do not have good, working systems to support detailed⁸ records of births and other major life events. The situation is especially serious in Asia.

UN officials admit that people are unable to register themselves and their children in too many places. The reasons for this include corruption⁹, and lack of personnel and record-keeping systems.

1 registration   

n.登记，注册，挂号

参考例句：

• Marriage without registration is not recognized by law.法律不承认未登记的婚姻。
• What's your registration number?你挂的是几号？

2 blight   

n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残

参考例句：

• The apple crop was wiped out by blight.枯萎病使苹果全无收成。
• There is a blight on all his efforts.他的一切努力都遭到挫折。

3 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

4 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

5 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

8 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

9 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。