MORE DETAILS ON PILOT IDENTIFICATION PROGRAM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABIDJAN 000515 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/15/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC KPKO IV SUBJECT: MORE DETAILS ON PILOT IDENTIFICATION PROGRAM REF: A. ABIDJAN 0495 ¶B. ABIDJAN 0500 Classified By: Poloff Phaedra Gwyn for reasons 1.4 b&d ¶1. (U) Summary: More details about the pilot identification process emerged on May 15, during a press conference by the Minister of Justice, Mamadou Kone. The pilot identification program will target anyone over 13 years of age who is without documents. Once the pilot phase has ended, the Ministry will begin planning for a nation-wide rollout, which would not begin until the first week of June at the earliest. Nationwide, according to Kone, there are 3.5 million undocumented Ivoirians and foreigners living in Cote d'Ivoire. (Note: current population estimate is 17.6 million.) If an applicant is determined to meet the standards for Ivoirian citizenship, he/she will receive a nationality certificate after a 48-hour waiting period. This nationality certificate will become the sole document that will be accepted as proof of citizenship for the purposes of obtaining a national identity card. Although the Ivoirian Government is calling this a pilot identification program, it is important to note that no identification cards will be issued at this time, only birth and nationality certificates. End Summary. ¶2. (U) The first hurdle for the undocumented born in the seven pilot locations will be to return to their home villages and remain there during the week of the pilot project. This requirement will be particulary burdensome on those displaced from the North to the South, as they will have to pass through multiple checkpoints and the Zone of Confidence to return to their place of birth. At each of pilot location, two Ministry of Justice magistrates will hold hearings to determine nationality. Applicants will be expected to provide any available family documentation and, if necessary, to produce witnesses from the village who can attest to their birth. A doctor will examine each applicant to fix the year of birth. If the applicant is able to prove to the magistrates that he/she was born in Cote d,Ivoire, they will accord him/her an Ivoirian birth certificate. ¶3. (U) Once the relevant facts - applicant's name, parents, names, parents, nationalities, and year of birth - are established, the magistrates will determine whether the applicant has a right to Ivoirian nationality. Birth in Cote d,Ivoire does not automatically accord Ivoirian nationality. Since 1972, to claim Ivoirian citizenship, a child must have at least one parent of Ivoirian nationality (acquired at birth or by naturalization). If the applicant was born in Cote d'Ivoire but does not qualify for Ivoirian citizenship, he will be issued a birth certificate only. Those who do qualify as citizens will be eligible for a nationality certificate. According to Minister Kone, this nationality certificate will be the sole document accepted for purposes of issuing national identity cards at a date yet to be specified. ¶4. (SBU) During the press conference, the majority of the questions concerned fraud. Kone replied that there was no way to prevent all fraud, but, to have as clean a process as possible, birth certificates will have a hologram affixed to them, and nationality certificates will each have a unique bar code. In addition, the list of applicants accorded Ivoirian birth and nationality certificates will be posted on a website and hard-copies of the list will be posted within the village for 48 hours before the certificates are issued. Anyone wishing to denounce an application as fraudulent must do so during the 48-hour waiting period. Kone stated that applicants found to have committed fraud will be prosecuted but he did not indicate what would occur to someone who brings a false accusation against an applicant. ¶5. (SBU) Other questions focused on the reason why "foreigners" would be allowed to participate and why the thousands of citizens who already have birth certificates but no nationality certificates, or whose identity papers have been lost or stolen, cannot take part. Minister Kone explained that anyone born in Cote d'Ivoire, whether foreigner or Ivoirian, is entitled to a birth certificate. Only Ivoirians will receive nationality certificates and eventually national identity cards. During this pilot program foreigners will receive birth certificates only, which they can then use to apply for residency cards at an unspecified future time. Kone stated that there would be a separate process of identification, also at a time not yet specified, for those who have either limited documentation (e.g., birth certificate but no nationality certificate) or who have lost their documents. ¶6. (U) Only persons thirteen years of age or older will be allowed to participate in the pilot project because the ABIDJAN 00000515 002 OF 002 Ivoirian Government, in partnership with UNICEF, already has a similar program of identity "fairs" to document children under thirteen. Since 2003, UNICEF has paid the travel and administrative costs for Ivoirian magistrates, court clerks, and doctors (to estimate the children's ages) to issue birth certificates in various cities of Cote d'Ivoire, including San Pedro, Abidjan, and Yamoussoukro, to children between the ages of three months to 13 years. The last fair, held in November/December 2005 in the town of Aboisso, registered over 13,850 children. UNICEF is currently discussing with the Minister of Justice the logistics of holding a fair in the rebel-controlled zone. ¶7. (C) COMMENT: The pilot project is a small step toward the issuance of identification cards. Although it represents modest progress, there are many potential political and technical pitfalls ahead. In particular, the process of issuing identity cards will apparently not even begin until the 3.5 million undocumented residents receive their certificates. This will mean a long delay in the identification and voter registration programs that must be completed before proceeding with elections. END COMMENT Hooks