26-28 April 2022 – IOM, in close collaboration with the African Union Commission (AUC), organized the First Masterclass on Legal Identity.
The event, which was the first of its kind for the African Regional Economic Communities (RECs) supports Target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration. The 3-day Masterclass brought together representatives from the African Union Commission (AUC), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA), the Tanzania Regional Immigration Training Academy (TRITA), the Head of Immigration at the Holili-Taveta One-Stop Border Post (OSBP), the IBM Regional Thematic Specialist for Western and Central Africa, as well as a representative from the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD) attending online.
The Masterclass offered an opportunity to introduce the soon-to-be-launched IOM’s Institutional Strategy on Legal Identity, provide guidance on strategies to increase the demand for registration services, the operationalization of legal identity through the issuance of national identity cards, the interoperability of population registers with other online government systems and platforms, as well as identity management for migrants with regular and irregular legal statuses.
IOM’s engagement on Legal Identity evolves around four strategic pillars t 1) support the development of solutions for members states to issue birth certificates, Identity Documents (ID), citizenship certificates, and travel documents; 2) assist migrants without Legal Identity documents; 3) support national civil registration and identity management systems to facilitate migration and mobility; and 4) provide thought leadership on the nexus between migration, displacement, and Legal Identity, including their impact on the protection of migrants and access to basic services.
‘Efforts to manage migration require not only harmonized migration policies, legal frameworks, and well-coordinated and inclusive institutional structures but also an understanding of the importance of Legal Identity for all’, Peter Mudungwe, AUC Senior Technical Adviser – Migration Governance and Liaison said. ‘African Member States and RECs whose migration governance systems are in place and robust are in a better position to appreciate the centrality of Legal Identity as it relates to migration, and its central role to facilitate African priorities, such as free movement’, he added.
IOM and the AUC have made it a priority to enhance capacity and provide technical assistance to the Member States and RECs in the area of migration governance. Therefore, the IOM will ensure close collaboration with the AUC to promote ownership of the Masterclass contents for all African Member States, in line with the recently signed cooperation agreement .
The Masterclass was co-financed by IOM and the German Federation Foreign Office (GFFO). Through this event, IOM confirms its commitment as a member of the UN Legal Identity Agenda (UNLIA) Task Force.
For more information, please contact:
Nelson Goncalves ngoncalves@iom.int
Jonathan Martens jmartens@iom.int.