Over 4K refugees in Cameroon enjoy inclusion thanks to govt-issued biometric ID cards

A pilot project aimed at issuing biometric ID cards to about 10,000 refugees living in Cameroon has begun yielding results with more than 4,000 of them already in possession of the cards.

The initiative to issue ID cards to refugees in Cameroon started in 2022. The project which is a tripartite effort of Cameroon’s Ministry of External Relations, the General Delegation for National Security (DGSN) and the country office of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), is intended to facilitate access to important services for these forcibly displaced persons in the country. Cameroon is host to around 500,000 refugees and asylum seekers.

According to a UNHCR blog article, the ID cards are already being distributed in two centers: Touboro in the North region of the country and in the capital Yaounde, where hundreds of applicants have already showed up for collection.

In Touboro, the exercise is unfolding under the supervision of Ali Bappaladane, president of the association of refugees in Mbaimboum in the northern part of the country. Touboro is host to a big number of refugees as it is a frontier town with Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR).

“Having the ID card has really helped me. I can move around freely without fear of arrest or harassment,” Shelly Teckombi Yazembrou, a CAR refugee tells UNHCR, describing the ordeal she went through without a legal identity document for seven years.

Another refugee, Hadidja, who is pursuing medical studies in Yaounde, says her recently acquired ID card will significantly serve her, namely by allowing her access to financial services or even scholarships if she ever has the opportunity win one.

Going the UNHCR’s plan, 10,000 cards are to be issued for a start, and the commencement of distribution recently is an important stage in a long process that required collaborative work, says Bettina Gambert, UNHCR’s head of Protection in Cameroon. She notes that issuance of the cards is a right step in the right direction and squarely fits into the mandate of the UNHCR in Cameroon to protect refugee and given them a better life. It also reflects progress toward meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, she mentions.

A resolution to engage concrete steps toward issuing biometric ID cards to refugees in Cameroon and other countries of the central Africa subregion was taken at an international ministerial conference in Yaounde in April 2022.

The conference resolved that it was urgent to “integrate refugee registration and documentation in national registration systems, including biometric systems in accordance with applicable data protection regulations, to facilitate the issuance of civil documentation as well as identity and travel documents by government agencies, and to ensure their recognition by private and public services including financial institutions.”

Article Topics

Africa  |  biometrics  |  Cameroon  |  digital ID  |  identity document  |  identity management  |  UNHCR