The rights of our children are being denied. One of the right of every child is to have a birth certificate. But our children don’t have it. They are born in Bremen, but Standesamt refuse to give them a birth certificate. And they refuse to write the name of the father into the birth registration paper, because they say, we are married somewhere. Without birth certificate we cannot do anything. Our children do not get health insurance. When our babies get sick, we are crying. Because we cannot bring them to doctors. Our babies are 9, 10 months, 1 year old or even older, still without any health insurance or paper. We – the parents – do not get our residence permit. Because migration tell us, to bring the birth certificate and the german pass of our babys. But Standesamt do not give us the birth certificates. If we go to german schools, they ask us for our residence permit – but we do not have them.
Without birth certificate all our rights and those of our babies are denied.
And all this, because Standesamt claim, that we are married. Even though we tell them no. Even though, we bring our bachelor papers, they don`t believe us. And they do not write the name of the father into the registration paper, even though we bring them the recognition of paternity. Even so the father go to the Standesamt and declare, that the baby is his child. They do not believe us. They ask many questions about our lives. They intimidate us. They treat us with so much disrespect. Do they want to force us, to say, I am married, if we are not? How can you tell me into my face, that I am lying?
Is there any law in Germany that says, you can not have a child, if you are not married?
Isn’t there many people in Bremen, that have children without being married? So why do they think, our cases are different?
Standesamt take our papers and say, they have to investigate. They make us pay 665 EUR for them to go to Africa to investigate about our supposed private lives. They go to our villages, to our families and ask everybody if we are married. What is this? Many of us passed a lot of difficulties in their lives and in their past. We are here now and we want to look into the future. But Standesamt is digging into our past, into our private lives. They want us to cry.
We will no longer accept this.
We demand our rights, we demand Standesamt, to give our babies the birth certificate with the name of the father inside. We demand to be treated equally! This inhumane procedure is racist. It is racial discrimination. Because Standesamt is using it specially against black women. 90 % of black women, who migrated to Germany from african countries do not have the birth certificates of their babies. Even women that live already years in Bremen, will have the same problem, if they born. But none of the other women that have migrated to Bremen or that are german have to undergo this humiliating questions and process. Standesamt is treating only black women like this.
But black lives matter.
Our children are Germans, weather you like it or not. So we will go out on the streets and gather in front of Standesamt. We demand our rights and the rights of our babies. And we ask all of you to join our protest.
