Namibia Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System Technical

Namibia: Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System Technical Seminar on Legal Framework for Civil Registration, Vital Statistics and Identity Management, 17 -19 July 2017 Anette Bayer Forsingdal and Tulimeke Munyika

Country overview • Gained independence in 1990 • Total: 824 292 KM 2 • Population Density: 2, 5 person per square kilo metre • Regions: 14 • Population Size: 2, 4 million ( census 2011) • Urban Population: 45, 7 % • Population growth: 2, 4% • Income category: Upper middle income • Gini co-efficient: 0. 597 ( 2009/2010)

MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS & IMMIGRATION Mandate: – Manage National Population Register – Facilitate lawful migration

Structure of Civil Registration Dept. Deputy Permanent Secretary (Registrar General) Director (HO) • Births • Marriages and Deaths • ID production Director (Regional Coordination) • Births • Deaths • ID

e-NPRS Person Population Profile Data Architecture Model Person’s Profile Birth Part Identity Part Marriage Part Person Core • Profile No. • Surname, • First names • Birthdate • Place born • Country born • Etc. Marriage Officer Part Example Profile Linkages Profile Person / Child Profile No. Death Part Risk Status Part Profile No. Profile Spouse Photo Part Certificate Management Part Profile Mother Document Archive Part Profile No. : Connects all profile parts to the Person Core and secondary to each other. Profile No.

Civil Registration, Civil Identification and Vital Statistics Context Model for Namibia FUTURE National Statistics Certifications Vital Events Live birth Fetal death Marriage Public / Private Health Facilities Birth or death notification form Marriage officers Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration (MHAI) National Statistics Office (NSA) Civil Registration and Population Register 1 Functions Birth, Marriages/Divorces, Death, Registries and ID Documents e. NIDM Platform e-Population & ID Services Divorce Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare (database of adoptions) Notification, Identity, Births, Marriages/Divorces & Deaths National Population Registration and ID Management System National Population Register & ID 1 4 CN 3 + CR + ID 5 Application Entities Birth Citizenship Death Citizens / Permanent Residents / Non -Citizens Birth, ID or death registration form Biometric and Images Data and Process Integration Services Adoption High Court Civil Identification: NID / e. ID / Biometric ID 1 Functions Provisioning, De-provisioning, Identification, Verification, Reputation, Authentication, Authorization and Auditing. NID / e. ID Card National Identity Interoperability Platform Death Notification Entities • • Vital Statistics Compilation Processing Validation Dissemination Health Sector Vital Statistics Civil Registration Civil Identification Statistical Databases Vital Statistics, Standardized Data, Other Public Sector Link between Civil Registration, Civil Identification and Vital Statistics e. Gov / Registries / Databases 2 Healthcare, Education, Social Assistance, Voters, Taxation, Veterans, Business Registers, Land Register and Crime Register Private Sector Registries / Databases 2 Healthcare, Education, Pension and Financial Customer Services Key: (1) Legal (Foundational) registries (2) Administrative (Functional) registries (3) CN: Civil Notification Data (4) CR: Civil Registration Data (5) ID: Identity Data

AS-IS: Roles and Responsibilities Ministry of Health and Social Services NOTIFIES Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration REGISTERS Children’s Court ISSUE ADOPTION ORDER Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration REGISTERS Marriage Officer (pastor/magistrate) SOLEMNISES & NOTIFIES Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration REGISTERS High Court NULLIFIES / DISSOLVES Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration REGISTERS Ministry of Health and Social Services NOTIFIES (natural death) Namibian Police NOTIFIES (unnatural death) Magistrates Court (inquests on cause of death, unnatural death) Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration REGISTERS

Current Civil Registration Laws • Namibian Constitution • Article 4: Criteria for Namibia citizenship by birth, descent, marriage, and naturalisation. • Article 15: Children have ‘right from birth to a name’ and ‘the right to acquire a nationality’ • Aliens Act, No. 1 of 1937 • Marriage Act, No. 25 of 1961 • Births, Marriages and Deaths Registration Act, No. 81 of 1963 • Namibian Citizenship Act, No. 14 of 1990 • Inquests Act, No. 6 of 1993 • Dissolution of Marriages on Presumption of Death Act, No. 31 of 1993 • Identification Act, No. 21 of 1996 • Child Care and Protection Act, No. 3 of 2015

LEGISLATIVE OVERHAUL Aliens Act, 1937 Births, Marriages and Deaths Registration Act, 1963 Identification Act, 1996 National Population Register Bill / Civil Registration and Identification Bill TOTAL REPEAL of MARRIAGE ACT

LEGISLATIVE OVERHAUL: New Provisions • Notification systems (e-birth, e-death, intention to marry) • Registration of different categories of children – – (1) Citizens, (2) Non-citizens, (3) Citizenship not determined Specific provisions for refugees, abandoned children, children conceived out of rape, children of undocumented parents • Allocation of unique ID numbers at registration of birth • Access to records by individuals and data-sharing with stakeholders, incl. vital statistics to Statistics Agency • Amendment of records • Re-creation of records • Rules related to names and surnames

Other Major Improvement Initiatives vis-à-vis capturing and recording VS e-birth notification launched e-death notification being designed Birth registration forms improved Annual Vital Statistics Reports initiated (based on NPRS data) • Interfacing NPRS (MHAI) with Vital Statistical Database (NSA) • CVRS Coordination (2014 Assessment; 5 year Strategic Plan • • for CRVS, TWG established, Mo. Us with NSA % Mo. HSS)

Ministry of Homer Affairs Ministry of Health e-birth notification

Homer Affairs Mortuary Health e-death notification

Challenges in the Bill • Stakeholder coordination (agreeing on variables and processes) • Privacy, Confidentiality & data sharing – No government policy and therefore no data protection act)