The Government of Sierra Leone through the National Civil Registration Authority (NCRA), on Friday 9 August 2019 joined other member States of the United Nations and other African Governments to commemorate the Second Africa Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Day. The commemoration was concurrent with the official launch of the Authority’s CRVS and ID Management Strategic Plan 2019-2024 and the CRVS Country Assessment Report by the Vice President at the Miatta Conference Hall. The theme for this year’s celebration is Birth Certificates for all: Fundamental for Protecting Human Rights and Promoting Inclusion.
[membership]
The CRVS Day is celebrated on 10 August every year. This date was declared in December 2017 by the Conference of African Ministers responsible for CRVS in Mauritania to celebrate the continuous, compulsory, permanent and universal recording of births, deaths, adoptions, legitimation, marriages, nullities and the issuance of ID cards. Speaking on the importance of this year’s theme, the UNDP Representative, Samuel Doe, admonished each and every Sierra Leone to have a birth certificate. Noting it is one of the fundamental instruments that guaranteed the legal status of an individual in every country. Sierra Leone has undergone several attempts at registration including biometric registration, voter registration, national identification, etc. The Chief Minister, David Francis, noted that one of the greatest challenges we faced in modern society has to do with identification. He added the Civil Registration Authority is very important and unique, noting that with effective data management, it would serve as the basis to inform policies. The theme for this year commemoration is informed by the need for African countries to integrate civil registration and legal identity as expressed in the Sustainable Development Goals and the Agenda 2063, and to reinforce the centrality of civil registration and administration of birth, in particular. According to the Director General of NCRA, Mohamed Massaquoi, in 2016, policymakers deemed it necessary to consolidate the registration function, relating to individuals that defines their origins, existence and status under one umbrella institution.” Massaquoi underscored the comprehensive assessment began with a training of task force members and ended with the regional validation of information. The Director said birth registration still remains a challenge. The Director of African Centre for Statistics, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Oliver Chinganya said, “Sierra Leone civil registration has a system integrated civil registration and ID, which is in line with the Union of Economic Commission for Africa guideline and best international best practice. The Minister of Internal Affairs, Edward Suluku, said civil registration will promote good governance, accountability, human rights inclusion and peaceful coexistence. The Minister said civil registration and vital data are cardinal to the government development agenda and the SDGs. The Head of European Union, Tom Vens, said civil registration is about the citizens, which will help to promote good governance and accountability. He added that the instruments will help all children go to school, for democracy to thrive, for business to grow and for crimes to be tackled. He stressed the health sector can be one of the beneficial institutions from such a structured system. The Head of Statistics Sierra Leone, Osman Sankoh called on Sierra Leoneans to register their relatives in births or deaths. He added that it would be impossible for the country to make progress in the SDGs, if we don’t have accurate data records. Launching the strategic plan and the country assessment report, the Vice President, Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, said a well-structured civil registration system enhances data health indicators and other development interventions or activities.
MJB/10/8/19
By Mohamed J. Bah
Wednesday August 14, 2019.
[/membership]
[membership level=”0”]
Login or Subscribe to read the entire article
[/membership]