Namibia: Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System Technical Seminar on Legal Framework for Civil Registration, Vital Statistics and Identity Management, 17-19 July 2017 Anette Bayer Forsingdal and Tulimeke Munyika

Country overview Gained independence in 1990 Total: 824 292 KM2 Population Density: 2,5 person per square kilo metre Regions: 14 Population Size: 2, 4 million ( census 2011) Urban Population: 45, 7 % Population growth: 2,4% Income category: Upper middle income Gini co-efficient: 0.597 ( 2009/2010)

MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS & IMMIGRATION Mandate: Manage National Population Register Facilitate lawful migration

Structure of Civil Registration Dept. Deputy Permanent Secretary (Registrar General) Director (HO) Director (Regional Coordination) Births Deaths ID Births Marriages and Deaths ID production

e-NPRS Person Population Profile Data Architecture Model Birth Part Person’s Profile Example Profile Linkages Identity Part Marriage Part Profile Person / Child Person Core Profile No. Surname, First names Birthdate Place born Country born Etc. Profile No. Marriage Officer Part Profile Spouse Death Part Risk Status Part Profile No. Photo Part Profile Mother Profile No. Certificate Management Part Document Archive Part Profile No.: Connects all profile parts to the Person Core and secondary to each other.

Civil Registration, Civil Identification and Vital Statistics Context Model for Namibia - FUTURE Certifications National Statistics Vital Events Notification Entities National Identity Interoperability Platform Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration (MHAI) Public / Private Health Facilities Birth or death notification form National Statistics Office (NSA) Vital Statistics Compilation Processing Validation Dissemination Civil Identification Registration Vital Statistics Health Sector Live birth Death Civil Registration and Population Register 1 Functions Birth, Marriages/Divorces, Death, Registries and ID Documents Fetal death Marriage officers Marriage eNIDM Platform Statistical Databases Vital Statistics, Standardized Data, Other High Court Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare (database of adoptions) e-Population & ID Services Notification, Identity, Births, Marriages/Divorces & Deaths Divorce Link between Civil Registration, Civil Identification and Vital Statistics National Population Registration and ID Management System Data and Process Integration Services Adoption Public Sector eGov / Registries / Databases 2 Healthcare, Education, Social Assistance, Voters, Taxation, Veterans, Business Registers, Land Register and Crime Register CN3 + CR4 + ID5 National Population Register & ID 1 Application Entities Biometric and Images Citizens / Permanent Residents / Non-Citizens Birth, ID or death registration form Birth Civil Identification: NID / eID / Biometric ID 1 Functions Provisioning, De-provisioning, Identification, Verification, Reputation, Authentication, Authorization and Auditing. Citizenship Private Sector Registries / Databases 2 Healthcare, Education, Pension and Financial Key: Legal (Foundational) registries Administrative (Functional) registries CN: Civil Notification Data CR: Civil Registration Data ID: Identity Data Death NID / eID Card Customer Services

AS-IS: Roles and Responsibilities Ministry of Health and Social Services NOTIFIES Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration REGISTERS Children’s Court ISSUE ADOPTION ORDER Marriage Officer (pastor/magistrate) SOLEMNISES & NOTIFIES High Court NULLIFIES / DISSOLVES Ministry of Health and Social Services NOTIFIES (natural death) Namibian Police NOTIFIES (unnatural death) Magistrates Court (inquests on cause of death, unnatural death)

Current Civil Registration Laws Namibian Constitution Article 4: Criteria for Namibia citizenship by birth, descent, marriage, and naturalisation. Article 15: Children have ‘right from birth to a name’ and ‘the right to acquire a nationality’ Aliens Act, No. 1 of 1937 Marriage Act, No. 25 of 1961 Births, Marriages and Deaths Registration Act, No. 81 of 1963 Namibian Citizenship Act, No. 14 of 1990 Inquests Act, No. 6 of 1993 Dissolution of Marriages on Presumption of Death Act, No. 31 of 1993 Identification Act, No. 21 of 1996 Child Care and Protection Act, No. 3 of 2015

LEGISLATIVE OVERHAUL Aliens Act, 1937 Births, Marriages and Deaths Registration Act, 1963 Identification Act, 1996 National Population Register Bill / Civil Registration and Identification Bill TOTAL REPEAL of MARRIAGE ACT

LEGISLATIVE OVERHAUL: New Provisions Notification systems (e-birth, e-death, intention to marry) Registration of different categories of children (1) Citizens, (2) Non-citizens, (3) Citizenship not determined Specific provisions for refugees, abandoned children, children conceived out of rape, children of undocumented parents Allocation of unique ID numbers at registration of birth Access to records by individuals and data-sharing with stakeholders, incl. vital statistics to Statistics Agency Amendment of records Re-creation of records Rules related to names and surnames

Other Major Improvement Initiatives vis-à-vis capturing and recording VS e-birth notification launched e-death notification being designed Birth registration forms improved Annual Vital Statistics Reports initiated (based on NPRS data) Interfacing NPRS (MHAI) with Vital Statistical Database (NSA) CVRS Coordination (2014 Assessment; 5 year Strategic Plan for CRVS, TWG established, MoUs with NSA % MoHSS)

e-birth notification Ministry of Homer Affairs Ministry of Health

e-death notification Homer Affairs Mortuary Health

Challenges in the Bill Stakeholder coordination (agreeing on variables and processes) Privacy, Confidentiality & data sharing No government policy and therefore no data protection act)