President George Mannah Weah has, by Proclamation, declared Wednesday, August 10, 2022 “Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Day”, and is to be observed throughout the Republic as a working holiday.
The Proclamation calls on government ministries and agencies, labor unions, civil society organizations as well as students, youths and women groups to join the Cooperative Development Agency (CDA) to initiate and execute appropriate programs befitting the observance of the Day.
According to a Foreign Ministry release, the 5th Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Day will be commemorated in 2022 under the theme, “Harnessing Coordination, Country Leadership and Ownership to Strengthen Integrated Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Systems: a Vehicle for Counting Everyone”.
The first conference of African Ministries responsible for Civil Registration was held in 2010 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and marked the beginning of a coordinated and integrated effort towards CRVS improvement in Africa, the release emphasized further.
The Proclamation also disclosed that African Union Executive Council, during its 32nd Ordinary Session in January 2018, endorsed the recommendations set out in the Ministerial Declaration.
According to the Proclamation, the fourth Conference of African Ministers declared August 10 each year to be African Civil Registration and Vital Statistics Day, and advised African Union member States to observe the day, the proclamation abated further.
The Proclamation recalled that the theme highlights the need for a sustained political commitment at the country level, with African governments taking leadership and ownership in strengthening their respective civil registration and vital statistics systems.
The release also stated that the COVID-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus the importance of having timely and reliable vital events data, and the critical role that civil registration and vital statistics systems play in ensuring that everyone is counted for inclusive access to vaccination, health care, social protection and other government services.
The release stated that it is imperative that African governments invest substantial public resources in the transformation of their systems to make them more technically and financially accessible to the population and in doing so, minimize the perceived scandal of invisibility on the continent, adding that African countries must build systems that are dynamic, interoperable, resilient, proactive and agile.
The civil registration and vital statistics systems confer legal identity to individuals and inform good governance, protecting human rights and creating inclusive societies.
Civil registration increases the credibility of national and local governments, enhancing their capacity to deliver social services by helping to identify which services are needed, where and by whom.
The proclamation continued that millions of people around the globe, however, live without the rights, protection and benefits afforded by having a legal identity and die without having had any proof of existence. Well-coordinated civil registration and vital statistics systems benefit every individual while simultaneously informing public policy, the Proclamation recounted further.