Registrar Generals;
Director Generals of Statistics and Representatives;
Members of Government;
Representative of United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
Representative of African Development Bank
Representatives of Development Partners;
Directors General of NSOs
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen;

Good morning,

On behalf of the African Union Commission and indeed on my own behalf, I wish to welcome you all to this preparatory meeting of experts for the fifth Conference of African Ministers responsible for Civil Registration taking place in this beautiful city of Lusaka, Zambia.

Please allow me also to thank H.E. Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, President of the Republic of Zambia, the Government and the People of Zambia for their usual warm welcome and hospitality accorded to all delegations.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

This meeting of senior officials is very crucial as it will engage in technical deliberations that will lead to the preparation of draft declarations and recommendations on the importance of holistic, innovative and integrated CRVS and Digital management systems in Africa that will be considered by our Ministers who will be providing strategic and policy guidance.

The Fifth Conference will also discuss on new and emerging initiatives: such as the digital identity initiative in Africa and the United Nations Legal Identity Agenda, both of which rely on a functioning and efficient CRVS system.

Civil registration data is essential for a functional and people centred integration process that aims to allowing citizen to benefit from their fundamental right, improve their well-being, promote job creation, and market expansion through trade, free movement of people and labour mobility.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen;

The continent is experiencing a technological revolution with an upsurge in the use of mobile devices, social media, information and communication technologies and big data, creating new channels for human interactions, and economic opportunities;

At the continental level, digital transformation is positioned among the top priorities of African Union Agenda 2063 and 2030 Agenda of SDG.

In response to that, African Union Commission in collaboration with ECA, AfDB, RECS, World Bank and other partners are developing a comprehensive Digital transformation Strategy for Africa to harness the full benefits of digital transformation.

One of the specific objectives of this strategy is to ensure that universal legal identity through digitalization of CRVS and ID as part of the civil registration system is achieved by 2030.

While implementing the digital transformation strategy AU Member States are encouraged to ratify the AU Convention on Cyber Security and personal data protection to ensure confidentiality.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen;

Evidence shows that over a third of the world’s forcibly displaced persons live in Africa due to conflicts, poor governance and natural disasters. To address the root causes and achieving solutions to forced displacement in Africa the AU has dedicated the Year 2019 as “Year of Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons: Towards Durable Solutions to Forced Displacement in Africa.”

In order to ensure universality, AU Member States need to continue to strengthen and expand ongoing efforts to ensure forcibly displaced and stateless persons have access to civil registration and are included in national vital statistics systems.

In addition, AU Member States are also encouraged to register all births, marriages and other vital events on their territory without discrimination and irrespective of the legal status of the individual concerned (including refugees, internally displaced persons, stateless persons, as well as those at risk of statelessness, and migrants), and to deliver appropriate civil documentation to attest to the registration of vital events.

Over the past years, intercontinental migration in Africa has increased resulting in political, economic, social, demographic and cultural impact on both the country of origin and the destinations of migrants. This can be both an opportunity and a challenge.

To facilitate opportunities for migrants to contribute to society and be well integrated, the African Union Commission adopted political strategies to govern migration. These include the New AU Migration Policy Framework for Africa, The Plan of Action (2018-2030) and the Joint Labor Migration Program (JLMP).

Improving civil registration systems and identity management systems is imperative for improving migration statistics in a way that is useful for policy making in African countries.

The African Union in collaboration with statistics Sweden has organized a parallel session tomorrow to discuss to what extent vital statistics is used as a foundation for the improvement of migration statistics and what are the challenges that migrants face in registering on civil status registers.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen;

It is to be emphasized that achievements registered by AU Member States in the implementation of Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics System must be shared in order to encourage others embrace best practices.

Moreover, the deliberations taking place during these three days will also help to exchange experiences and go a long way in supporting efforts towards improved understanding of the centrality of civil registration and vital statistics in the implementation of the Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.

There has been sustained political commitment at the country level, with Governments showing leadership and taking ownership of the process of strengthening their respective civil registration and vital statistics systems.

The African Union Assembly in July 2016 declared 2017-2026 as the decade for repositioning civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) in Africa as continental, regional and national development agenda and urges governments to respond with appropriate action.

The 2018 Assembly also declared August 10 as Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Day and called upon African Union Member States to commemorate the day.

The first and second CRVS days were commemorated both at continental and National levels on August 10, 2018 and August 10, 2019 respectively. In this regard, the AUC Chairperson had sent a strong message to the political organs at national, regional and continental level to reaffirm their commitment for the improvement of the CRVS systems.

The AUC and its partners will continue to support AU Member States to improve civil registration and vital statistics system under the framework of the Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa (SHaSA2).

The AU Institute for Statistics (STATAFRIC) and the African Statistical Training Center (PANSTAT) will also contribute in building the capacity of AU Member States to improve their CRVS systems.

I thank you for your kind attention and wish this workshop fruitful deliberations and great success.