Linking CRVS with legal identity systems offers major benefits: UNECA

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has urged African countries to capitalize on the emphasis this year’s Africa Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Day places on linking civil registration and legal identity systems.

Africa CRVS Day is observed every August 10 and this year’s theme is “Strengthening the linkage of civil registration and vital statistics to legal identity systems through digitalization for enhanced inclusion.”

In a statement, ECA highlights the importance of the theme and posits that such linkage is “essential for promoting effective governance and societal development, protecting individual rights, ensuring efficient service delivery, reducing fraud and facilitating cross-border recognition.”

The UN body adds that this process “forms the backbone of a transparent, accountable and inclusive governance framework that benefits individuals, communities and societies.”

ECA further notes that linking CRVS and legal ID systems comes along with major benefits. With this, ECA says, countries will be able to obtain and keep accurate population data, ensure seamless and effective delivery of services across various sectors, guarantee the protection of human rights of citizens as they will be able to enjoy their fundamental rights with official recognition and identification, curb fraud and impersonation, facilitate identification of persons across borders, and provide valuable data for informed policy choices.

As African countries advance their digital transformation projects aimed at improving the living conditions of citizens and buoying up their digital economies, ECA believes this year’s Africa CRVS Day “will ignite conversations on the vital importance of harmonizing civil registration and vital statistics with legal identity systems.”

Such reflections, ECA proposes, should include sharing success stories of successfully linked systems, thoughts on how such linkages can be systematically and sustainably done, and building partnerships and collaborations to improve efforts aimed at expanding CRVS and legal ID coverage among countries.

Meanwhile, ECA indicates that as part of the celebration to mark this year’s Africa CRVS Day, the secretariat of the Africa Programme on the Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems and its diverse ecosystem of partners, are organizing a webinar on related topics.

“The webinar series will provide a platform for experts, policymakers, practitioners and stakeholders to share insights, experiences and innovative solutions related to civil registration and vital statistics and legal identity systems in Africa.”

The idea of linking CRVS and legal identity systems has been the subject of recent consultations between the UNDP and its partners. Conclusions from these consultations show this linkage is becoming imperative for countries undertaking digital transformation projects.

In an blog article in March, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) also underlined that a strong civil registration system is vital for having an accurate and credible voter register, especially if both systems are linked. The write-up also posits that voter registers derived from government population databases have more benefits and can save countries the stress of undertaking potentially cumbersome voter registration processes.

Article Topics

Africa  |  civil registration  |  CRVS  |  digital identity  |  legal identity  |  SDG 16.9  |  UNECA  |  United Nations