Integrated Biometrics supports call to recognize International Identity Day

ID4Africa this week announced the launch of a petition to be presented to the United Nations to designate September 16 as “International Identity Day”. The goal is to raise awareness for UN sustainable development goal (SDG) 16.9, which sets a goal of legal identity for all people worldwide by 2030. The petition is intended to be presented to the UN when it has reached sufficient support to warrant a vote in the General Assembly.

Today, Integrated Biometrics put out a statement recognizing that “identity is fundamental for human rights, quality of life, and economic development” in support of ID4Africa’s call for recognizing September 16 as International Identity Day and challenged other biometrics solutions providers to sign the same petition provided to attendees at ID4Africa’s annual meeting this week in Abuja, Nigeria.

According to Dr. Joseph J. Atick, executive chairman of ID4Africa, “The purpose of this day is to raise awareness about the important role identity plays in empowering individuals to exercise their rights and responsibilities fairly and equitably in a modern society. Many causes have special days of observances, except identity. The time has come for the world to recognize one of the most important assets a human can possess, their legal identity.”

“Identity is a birthright,” added Stephen Thies, CEO of Integrated Biometrics. “People in all nations are born with and deserve to keep their unique identity, whether it is to pass their history to future generations or to gain access to their rights as members of society. We applaud ID4Africa for raising the urgency of identity through their efforts to establish International Identity Day.”

Biometric Update’s coverage of ID4Africa 2018 from Abuja, Nigeria as the event’s Official Journalist will continue through the conference’s conclusion, and with a series of feature articles following up on highlights and major insights from the movement’s annual event.

Article Topics

ID4Africa  |  Identity  |  Integrated Biometrics  |  International Identity Day  |  United Nations