News in Brief

No ID, No Dignity

The Fase Pardhi community in Yavatmal, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, is a nomadic tribe with no proper identity or identification certificate from the government. They are demanding Aadhaar – the unique identifier for every resident in India– and ration cards, to establish their identity so that they can access welfare schemes from the central and state governments.

The lack of official recognition from the state also means that most of them don’t have voting rights and are denied access to healthcare and basic amenities like drinking water and proper housing.

The plight of the Fase Pardhi community is far from being an isolated case. According to the World Bank Group’s ID4D Global Dataset, an estimated one billion people around the globe face challenges in proving who they are. They struggle to access basic services and may miss out on important economic opportunities, such as formal employment or owning a registered business.

Counting the number of people who do not have an ID worldwide is an enormous, but important, task. To better understand the global identification challenge, ID4D has implemented two different measurement strategies:

• the Global ID4D Dataset, based on official figures from ID authorities, voter registration, and UNICEF birth registration data; 

• and representative surveys from 99 countries, collected in partnership with the World Bank’s Global Findex team.

To find out more about the data used to generate the estimates and how these two data sources differ visit https://id4d. worldbank.org/global-dataset. 

Luxembourg Launches App for eServices Authentication

Residents of the European state of Luxembourg now have access to a mobile ID app designed to act as a kind of authentication companion to the country’s physical ID card.

Dubbed ‘GouvID’, the app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store or the Google Play store. To activate it, residents must use their phone’s camera to scan the MRZ of their physical ID card; then, they are instructed to place their phone on the front of the ID card so that it can wirelessly read the card’s electronic certificates.

From there, the mobile app can be used as a security key-style authentication mechanism when accessing certain online government services. When logging into the MyGuichet.lu government eServices portal, a resident will be prompted to scan a QR code using the GouvID app, and then to tap their phone against their physical ID card in order to confirm their identity.

Notably, the user can also opt to take advantage of their smartphone’s biometric authentication capabilities to further enhance the security of the login process. Biometric authentication will be prompted right after the QR code scan; or, if the user has not enabled biometric authentication, they will have to enter their physical ID card’s PIN.

GouvID authentication allows users to verify their identity when accessing MyGuichet. lu, the online tax filing system, and when registering a business online.

Life Before Death Certificate in Jamaica

Jamaica’s Ministry of Labour and Social Security will be rolling out a life certificate – an official document used to verify that a pensioner is still alive and, therefore, eligible to receive a pension from the government.

‘The life certificate is documentation that the beneficiary will have to produce twice a year to support their life status,’ Project Director in the Ministry, Elsa Marks Willis, said.

‘That life certificate will have to be verified by one of the designated persons on the certificate, who can certify that you are alive, and you are still in need of the benefit. Once that is not received by the Ministry, we will have to suspend the payment until we can ascertain your life status,’ she pointed out.

The $800-million Social Pension Programme, launched last July, targets all Jamaican citizens 75 years and older, who are not currently in receipt of a pension (overseas or local) or any other retirement, old-age or disability benefit or regular income, and not living in a government institutionalised care facility.

Currently, there are 7,800 persons registered under the programme, who are receiving $6,800 every two months, which is credited to their bank account or disbursed via the applicant’s remittance agency of choice. The Ministry is looking to increase the number of beneficiaries to 20,000 this financial year.

To register for the Social Pension Programme, persons can visit any of the Ministry’s parish offices across the island.

They will be required to complete a social pension application form, accompanied by their Tax Registration Number (TRN), National Insurance Scheme (NIS) card, and proof of age in the form of a birth certificate or a valid passport.

They should also take along a valid identification (ID) such as a driving licence, passport or voter’s ID, proof of bank account and any other document that may be required to process the application, for example, proof of citizenship.

50,000 Zimbabwean ePassports Issued In 3 Months

The Registrar-General’s (RG) Office says it has issued over 50,000 electronic passports at its offices in Harare and Bulawayo from January to April of this year.

In an interview with a local newspaper, the Registrar-General, Henry Machiri, said there are plans to open eight other provincial ePassport offices by the end of June this year.

During the interview Machiri stated that passport production started on 18 January 2022, and that 51,080 ePassports had been issued by 21 April. He also confirmed that there was enough material in stock to allow ramping up of production.

Outside of Harare and Bulawayo, the other eight provinces will have passport offices in their provincial centres by 30 June.

On the issue of the online passport application system, whose booking system is now live, Machiri said the system seeks to shorten the time applicants spend at the RG offices as they can apply for the documents in the comfort of their homes or offices.

However, this does not mean that you apply and the passport is delivered to your doorstep. A travel document is a secured document and has to be given to the rightful owner.