JOINT PRESS RELEASE

Yamoussoukro Hosts 3rd Conference of African Ministers responsible of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS)

Yamoussoukro, 12 February 2015 – African Ministers responsible for civil registration and vital statistics converged on 12 and 13 February 2015 at their third Conference in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire to brainstorm on the right to identity for each born African child under the theme “Promoting the use of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in support of Good Governance in Africa” . The opening ceremony at the Fondation Houphouet-Boigny pour la Recherche et la Paix. took place in the presence of the AU Commissioner for Economic Affairs, H.E. Anthony Maruping, the Minister of Interior Affairs and Security of Côte d’Ivoire, H.E Ahmed Bakayoko, the Ministers of Health and fights against HIV-AIDS, H.E Raymonde Godou Koffi, Representatives from the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), partner organisations as well as the local and administrative authorities of Yamoussoukro.

Addressing participants on behalf of Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) Commissioner Maruping, expressed his gratitude to the Government of Côte d’Ivoire for hosting this edition of the CRVS Conference, “very critical for the continent in the context of the Agenda 2063 and the post- 2015 development agenda” he underlined, while congratulating the host country for winning the African Cup of Nations at the just ended football championship tournament in Equatorial Guinea. He recalled that the vision of the AU under Agenda 2063 is to primarily ensure the welfare of its citizens by alleviating poverty and improve the living condition of each African. In that regards, Africa should consider civil registration and vital statistics very importantly so as to materialise the new paradigm of a rapid, inclusive and resilient development on the continent.

Commissioner Maruping noted that African governments should then be committed to accelerate the implementation of the different policies and strategies adopted with respect to the CRVS systems. “If there is no dependable and comprehensive CRVS on the ground there will be no meticulous implementation of Post-2015 Development Agenda and its MDGs…There will be no Africa Arising.”, stated the Commissioner. He underlined that, some key challenges including the mainstreaming of Information, communication and technologies (ICTs), the capacity building constraint and financing should be addressed in view to establish strong CRVS system which will be a catalyst of good governance in Africa.

The Ministers of Health of Cote d’Ivoire on her part underscored the necessity to couple statistics with the health system in each African country as key to solving the problem of unregistered births and deaths which are very common in Africa. She urged all the African countries to institutionalise a free birth registration system.

Speaking on behalf of the Prime Minister of Cote d’Ivoire, the Minister of Interior Affairs and Security said civil registration helps to facilitate the integration of vulnerable classes of people who are threatened by the scandal of invisibility. “Their non registration implies their non existence before the law”, he sated. The Minister called on African governments to avoid the exclusion of some of its citizens through the establishment of viable and updated statistics systems.

“The Conference is the opportunity for a new path which will bring Africa to a unique identification system where we can get all the information on a person.” Concluded Minister Bakayoko before inviting African government to institutionalise the celebration of an African day for civil registration.

During the opening ceremony, it was announced that the Islamic Republic of Mauritania will host the 4th Conference of African Ministers responsible for CRVS scheduled for 2017. In this regard, the symbolic calabash on CRVS was officially handed to the Mauritanian Minister by the Minister of the Republic of South Africa and the Minister of Côte d’Ivoire .

Interview requests should be addressed to Mrs. Esther Azaa Tankou, Head of Information Division at the Directorate of Information and Communication of the African Union, Tel: +22558117429, E-mail: yamboue@africa-union.org/esthertankou@yahoo.com