Pacific Regional Workshop on Legal Identity and Identity Security 8-10th July 2019 Perspectives on accelerating progress on universal legal identity and monitoring progress Gloria Mathenge (SPC)

Universal civil registration Our Goals: (i) Universal civil registration > universal Legal Identity Universal civil registration Legal documents on vital events (Births and deaths) for all Foundation for national ID , other govt programmes Health, Migration, Education, taxation…. Most reliable source of vital statistics

Our Goals: (ii) Identity Security Identity security: the degree to which an individuals personal information, data and identity credentials resist to or protected from harm in the form of theft, fraud and any other form of inappropriate access or use. Every identity record created is accurate and true Every legal document issued is secure and trusted

Key challenges against the set goals Key challenges in achieving universal civil registration and secure legal documents: Registering all events especially deaths Achieving accuracy (reliability of records) Achieving timeliness of reporting Underlying problem: The burden of registration as set out by legislation and the organisation of our system s

Informant and Notifier An informant: is the individual or institution whose responsibility, designated by law, is to report to the registrar the fact of the occurrence of a vital event and to provide all the information on and all the characteristics of the event. On the basis of such a report, the event may be legally registered by the registrar. A notifier is the individual appointed by the local registrar to act as intermediary between the local registrar and the informant in providing all the information on and all the characteristics of an event that is to be legally registered by the local registrar.13

Examples of legislation: (i)

Parents or family are the key informants Birth or death Ministry of Health (Hospital) Event record created Proof of event record provided to family Event record is filed at Hospital Civil Registrar’s Office (Ministry of Justice) National Statistics Office Parent/family to visit registration office No guarantee of a single trip Has to pay for certificate National Planning Office / Process Scenario 1: Parents or family are the key informants Birth or death notification and registration

Scenario 2: Is the more common practice MoH is a notifier Birth or death Ministry of Health (Hospital) Event record created Proof of Event record provided to family Event record is filed at Hospital Civil Registrar’s Office (Ministry of Justice) National Statistics Office Parent to visit registration office No guarantee of a single trip Has to pay for certificate National Planning Office / Process Scenario 2: Is the more common practice MoH is a notifier Parents or family are the key informants Birth or death notification and registration

Scenario 3: Emerging best practice MoH is an Informant Birth or death Ministry of Health (Hospital) Event record created Proof of event record provided to family Event record is filed at Hospital Civil Registrar’s Office (Ministry of Justice) National Statistics Office Parent or family has no direct relationship with registration office in terms of reporting, may do so for a certificate Individual or aggregate records are sent by MOH to civil registration office within a defined timeline National Planning Office / Process Scenario 3: Emerging best practice MoH is an Informant Advantages: Improved data quality, completeness of records, efficiency, easing the burden of the public Birth or death notification and registration

Examples of legislation (ii) (f) “Institution” means any establishment, public or private, which provides in-patient or out-patient medical, surgical, or diagnostic care or treatment or nursing, custodial, or domiciliary care, or to which persons are committed by law.

Providing a civil registration service desk at the hospital(s) Other approaches Providing a civil registration service desk at the hospital(s) Tagging birth registration to immunisation days Annual, quarterly, or monthly reconciliation of data between both Ministries with follow up done with families Positioning the registration office within MoH

Immunisation coverage vs birth registration DPT comprises a series of immunizations to prevent diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus. To be fully immunized, children must receive three doses of the vaccine before their first birthday. Immunisation data source: UNICEF Registration completeness, collated by SPC from 2017 PCRN workshop Period of data: Year 2018 except for Papua New Guinea

Recommendations Adopt a regional model in which there is an established data sharing arrangement between health and civil registration departments, with the latter acting as an informant6, of vital events occurrences. Build integrated systems, whereby the health information system provides input to the civil registration system, and the civil registration system provides input into the national identification system