Republic of Botswana

ORGANIC LINK OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND NATIONAL IDENTITY MANAGEMENT: TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED

NATIONAL POPULATION REGISTER MS NEO CORNELIAH LEPANG

DIRECTOR

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND NATIONAL REGISTRATION MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND HOME AFFAIRS

CIVIL REGISTRATION WORLD SUMMIT , BANGKOK THAILAND : “MAKE EVERY LIFE COUNT”

BOTSWANA: THE BACKGROUND

Population – 2.06 million; Pop Density – 3.6/Km2Birth rate: 22.02/1000; Death rate: 12/1000Births registered: 72% BFHS; Deaths registered: ??Institutional deliveries: 94%Ante Natal contact (at least one): 95%Mobile phones per capita: 0.91Registration infrastructure: all 12 districts and 21

sub districts and 7 on site registration at health facilities – open to citizens and non citizens

BOTSWANA: THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Births and Deaths Registration Act : Free, Compulsory , Time-Bound registration (births: 60 days; deaths 30 days) Register both citizens and noncitizens Late registration Fees (USD 0.75 p/m in default - USD 13 maximum USD 25 for failure to register - due to negligence and or imprisonment term not

exceeding 6 months Children’s Act: Birth registration a right for every child Biological parents details a must on birth certificate Nationality indicated on birth certificate National Registration Act: Limited to citizens, free, compulsory and time bound(within 30 days of turning 16 years or becoming a citizen) Failure to register an offence under law; Late registration fine USD 65 ,

imprisonment not exceeding 6 months

ORGANIC LINK:BIRTHS, DEATHS AND NATIONAL REGISTRATION

A robust and reliable Civil Registration and Vital Statistics data base is a basic foundation for any sustainable and secure identity management system

BDRS requests National unique ID number from NIS to register every birth.

Unique number continues in use for all purposes from cradle to grave –education, employment, pension,

elections, passport and boarder control etc. When person dies’, BDRS updates NIS on

the new status from ‘’live’’ to “dead” online and NIS update other interfaced Government systems real time.

Separate Birth Registration numbers provided for non citizens

Organic link between Birth, Death and National Registration through Unique number allocated at birth ensures trust and secures the identity chain in the registration processes.

Hospital based Birth Registration

BOTSWANA: CENTRAL ISSUESReaching the remaining 28% of population in a sparsely

populated country (Source BFHS 2007)Reaching hard to reach and vulnerable groups – focusing

on orphans, rural areas, children of low income and less educated parent

22% of hospital births not registered due to poor coordination

Scaling up death registrationWeak stakeholder collaboration/partnership

REACHING THE UNREACHED

BFHS 2007 :72 % National Birth registration coverage

2010: Country wide campaign for Universal Births & Deaths Registration in partnership with unicef . Theme: “Don’t let your child be a “Nobody”; Register your child’s birth Today! – on going

Motivation of Registration demand

2011: Special Project on Registration of Remote Area Dwellers in partnership with local leadership, unicef, unfpa – on going

REACHING THE UNREACHED 2012: On site Hospital Based Births and Deaths

Registration - ongoing 2013 May: Skills and Capacity building Training on

Assessment of CRVS completeness and development of time-bound, costed Action Plan supported by UNECA

2013 July : Assessment of Completeness of Botswana CRVS and development of Plan of Action – requires support

2013 October : Implementation of Plan of Action – requires support

Improve stakeholder collaboration: Home Affairs, Health, Statistics – systems link – requires support

Security and data integrity - central to building credible and trusted crvs databases and national registration systems

value of person identity and; crvs role in national development planning and programming.

Prevention of identity Fraud Fraud more prevalent at enrolment stage, issue is to be sure of identity of the

applicant: is the person who he says he is; Fraud has shifted from document forgery to use of false breeder documents Risk is with use of fake or stolen breeder documents and false identity

claims Personnel integrity crucial to close out corrupt practices risk More secure breeder documents crucial : affidavits, birth certificates

( minimum standards; ICAO) Fraud accelerating factors Human mobility Digitalization Global networks Economic crisis

BUILDING TRUSTED DATABASES AND IDENTITIES

IMPACT OF INSECURE IDENTITIESHousehold Impersonation : false wedding, criminal registry Asset fraud: account takeover, credit in your nameGovernments/corporate Unreliable data bases : insecure claims of rights such as

citizenship, land, old age pensions etc. Improper development planning processes Data losses Unstable democracy due to unreliable voters rolls Financial fraud: economic and financial losses

CONCLUSION: KEY MESSAGE The integrity of the person data, enrolment and issuance

processes and documents as well as integrity of the personnel involved is key to a sustainable, secure and trusted identity management system and stabilized person identity

Identity chain is secured by complete births and deaths registers as a basis for a robust national registration system. Such is central to data integrity.

Need for automated & more intelligent and secure systems that are easy to operate to optimise efficiency and effectiveness

An optimization ratio for convenience crucial (number of enrolment sites and percentage of citizens to be reached)

Free and compulsory registration with penalties crucial for universality

Data protection and privacy, electronic signature legislative frameworks underpin a secure Identity Management System

Secure, Resilient,

Seamless People Hub

Birth & Death

Marriage

Imm & Citizenship

Visa & MigrationWork &

Resident Permits

National ID

The People Hub - Botswana

Need to create interoperable universal identity repository with biometric information for basic public administration and efficient service delivery

Percentage of children not registered by orphan status

Non Or-

phans

Single Orphans

Double Orphans

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

% Children not registered

% Children not registered

Source: UNICEF Secondary Analysis of BFHS IV 2007

Percentage of children not registered by wealth quintile

(richest) 1098765432

(poorest) 1

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

% Children not registered

% Children not registered

Source: UNICEF secondary analysis of BFHS IV 2007

Percentage of children not registered by education of household head

Never a

ttended

Primary

Seco

ndary

Certifica

te

Diploma

Degree

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

% of children not registered

% of children not reg-istered

Source:UNICEF Secondary analysis of BFHS IV 2007

Percentage of children not registered by geographical location 2007

City/Town Urban/village Rural0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

% of children not registered

% of children not reg-istered

Source: UNICEF Secondary analysis of BFHS IV 2007

Partnering with the health sector