Ivorian minister explains issues, challenges and prospects of civil status
Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) - At the initiative of the Ivorian government, the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization, Mr Sidiki Diakité, met journalists from the local and international press on Thursday to discuss issues, challenges and prospects of civil status in Côte d'Ivoire.
The minister explained the dysfunction of civil status in Côte d'Ivoire, among other things, as due to lack of qualified human resources, people's lack of ownership of the civil status and the distance from civil registration centres which leads to low reporting rates.
For instance, in 2018 the birth registration rate was 36% while the death registration rate was 18%.
In addition, the Minister said that 45% of children under 5 years of age are not recorded. All this has required the legal and institutional reforms contained in the national civil status strategy and identification, including the new mechanisms for registering civil status, which make it possible to capture 98% of civil status facts.
Journalists raised concerns about civil status fraud, the growing number of stateless persons in Côte d'Ivoire and the revision of the voters' list.
Mr. Sidiki Diakité reassured that the solution to all civil status problems would be found through the establishment of the National Register of Natural Persons, an instrument of administrative, social, economic and security governance, which grants any person living in Côte d'Ivoire and any Ivorian living abroad or any foreigner passing through Côte d'Ivoire a national identification number.
The register will make it possible to combat fraud, produce and issue civil status documents anywhere, produce statistics and facilitate exchanges between administrations and economic actors.
-0- PANA JU/TBM/MTA/AR 31Oct2019
