Not all African countries require their citizens to carry a national identity card, but the number is rapidly increasing. ECOWAS Member States have committed to introduce a common-form biometric identity card by 2017. The introduction of these new systems may be based on concerns for national security or to improve delivery of public services: but for these aims to be achieved, law and procedures must ensure that people are not arbitrarily excluded from acquiring these documents.
Every citizen should have the right to a passport, enabling international travel, which should not be removed except following due process of law (for example, from a person accused of a serious crime).
Only some African countries establish an independent judicial procedure for a person to obtain a “certificate of nationality” or alternative document that is conclusive proof that a person is a national.
By Mwaka Ndawa THE State has argued that it has strictly followed the provisions of the Constitution in implementing the mobile registration exercise and in the issuance of National Registration Cards and has abided by the National Registration Act Chapter…
This report provides an overview and analysis of Ghana’s identification ecosystem (IE). It discusses seven major identification (ID) systems: Birth Certificates, Voter ID cards, National Health Insurance cards, Driver’s Licences, Passports, National Identification cards (Ghanacard), and SIM cards. The authors…
On 19th October 2020, the Nubian Rights Forum, alongside Centre for Minority Rights Development (CEMIRIDE), Haki Centre, Haki na Sheria Initiative, Kenya Human Rights Commission and Defenders Kenya – Coalition held a joint press briefing to issue a press statement…
Special feature in Zimbabwe Daily News: Download: ZHRC feature documentation report launch dailynews16Oct2020
By JOHN MUTUA Kenyans are inching closer to getting their long-awaited Huduma Namba identification cards after the State published the issuing rules. The Registration of Persons (National Integrated Identity Management System) Rules, 2020 will guide the operations of the National…
THE Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has bemoaned the deprivation of national documentation on inter-sex persons, saying current national statutes only categorised hermaphrodites as male and female only. A ZHRC report on the National Inquiry on Access to Documentation says…
Mkhululi Ncube, Chronicle Reporter THE Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) has said there is need for the Registrar General`s office to expedite the issuance of registration documents to Gukurahundi victims as part of measures of bringing closure to the emotive…
By Anna Chibamu THE Zimbabwe Human Rights Association (ZimRights) has applauded Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) for the successful completion of the Inquiry on Access to Documentation in Zimbabwe and subsequent launch of the report last Thursday in Harare. ZimRights…
SPEAKER of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda has said a passport is a human right and not a privilege because it affords people the right to movement as enshrined in the Constitution. Mudenda made the remarks while officiating at the…
Access to national identity documentation is a fundamental human right that forms the basis of enjoyment of other interrelated rights, Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda has said. He was speaking at the launch of the Zimbabwe Human…