Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Recent efforts to formulate or reform the legal arrangements for CRVS and ID system Patricia Mpuya

Outline What is RITA? History of Civil Registration in Tanzania Laws governing CR in Tanzania Efforts made in reforming the CR Laws Conclusion

Registration Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA) A government agency under the Ministry of Constitutional and Legal Affairs (MoCLA) in Tanzania Responsibilities; registration of vital events (births, deaths, marriages, divorces and Adoption) Insolvency services (bankruptcy and liquidation) Trusteeship services (trustees incorporation, will drafting and storage etc.)

History of Birth registration in Tanzania Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar have separate civil registration systems as registration of vital events is not a union matter. Civil registration in Mainland Tanzania dates back to the colonial era (1920s). By then it aimed at registering non-native residents only. However, now more than 50 years since independence rates are still low to the extent that we cannot reliably use the statistics produced for evidence based decisions

Laws governing CR in Tanzania Births and Deaths Registration Act R.E 2002 (provides for matter relating to Registration of Births and Deaths) The Law of Marriage Act R.E 2002 (provides for registration of Marriages and Divorce) The law of the Child Act 2009 (provides for registration of Adoption)

Current effort of reforming the CR laws The effort to reform the CR laws started with the CRVS complete assessment which was done in September 2014 Further in October 2016 the Agency engaged the Law Reform Commission of Tanzania to conduct the review on the legal framework on CRVS The LRC has already developed a draft report on the Review of the Legal Framework governing the CRVS in Tanzania

Proposed recommendation Institutional framework on Registration of Births and Deaths( decentralization) Institutional Structure of Civil Registration(need to have a specific directorate charged with reg. activities) Notification (impose duty to the govt. to report on the births) Registration of still birth

Registration of births and deaths occurring outside the country Cost of registration should be removed for first issuance Use of ICT

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