DRC/Civil registration: raising community awareness is essential

A day of orientation with the various actors around the theme "Strengthening links between the civil registration system, related statistics and the legal identity system thanks to the digital transformation of the service" was organized on August 10 in Kinshasa, as part of the commemoration of African Civil Status Day, celebrated every year on August 10 by Unicef, in collaboration with the Ministry of the Interior.

The various stakeholders were made aware of the importance of civil registration, as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has a low rate of registration. To change this trend, communication needs to be stepped up. In the case of the DRC, there is a need to step up communication and awareness-raising in order to raise the birth registration rate, which stands at 40%, to a level that will enable the country to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals", said Diouf Massamba, Unicef's child protection and birth registration specialist. We are very pleased with this activity, which has given us the opportunity to discuss a number of issues, in particular birth registration in the DRC and Africa," he said.

Despite the efforts made by the country and its partners, including Unicef, Diouf Massamba acknowledged that there are challenges to be met in this area, for example in terms of collaboration between the various government departments and others.

For his part, Belly Lunanga, Head of Division at the Ministry of the Interior and National Focal Point for Civil Status, dwelt on the State's assumption of responsibility for registration and identification operations.He also explained the link between civil registration and the identification of the population or legal identity.

Chantal Lukadi, a legal expert from the Office national de l'identification de la population (Onip), spoke of the importance of the Fichier général de la population (FGP), which has been defined as a unique reference for the whole of France.defined as a unique reference for the identification of individuals, a single source of data used to produce all secure titles and documents. She explained the interoperability that exists between the civil registry system and the FGP.

The civil registry system, she stressed, cannot function on its own without the FGP, and vice-versa. The FGP is fed by civil status data, notably new births, deaths and marriages. Once there is a marriage, birth or death, we register it at the commune and issue a death certificate or a birth certificate before reporting it to Onip for registration in the FGP", she revealed.Chantal Lukadi insisted on the importance of the population's identity, which is truly primordial. She also stressed that the civil registry system concerns all Congolese living on national territory, all foreigners living on national territory and all Congolese living abroad.

A number of participants from the Ministries of the Interior, Public Health, Education, Health and Social Affairs took part in the discussion day on civil status registration.rieur, Public Health, the National Statistics Institute, Onip, Unicef, not forgetting journalists, members of the Réseau des journalistes amis de l'enfant.

Source: www.adiac-congo.com/