Namibia’s new CRVS, national ID system reflects key data protection aspects

Namibia’s newly proposed Civil Registration and Identification Bill has been praised for containing essential elements of data protection. However, the government still needs to finalise work on pending efforts to put in place a personal data protection law.

This is according to a review of the CRVS and ID legislation by the APC, a network of non-governmental organisations crusading for the promotion of digital rights.

In the report, which is part of a series of publications on digital rights, legal and digital identity and biometrics use in southern Africa, the organisation commends the innovations in the legislation, which generally aim at facilitating access to birth registration and legal identity in the country.

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One of the novelties, per the report, is the idea of linking the CRVS system to the national ID system, where births will be digitally notified.

Such linkage, which is also being strongly recommended to countries by Unicef, will make it easier for parents in Namibia to easily apply for birth certificates, which can also be done at the level of health centres where births happen.

Also, it is mentioned that the new CRVS and ID system in Namibia will “ultimately eliminate the need for overlapping biometric data collection and storage by multiple government agencies.”

According to the APC, the Namibia bill “incorporates key data protection principles, which is particularly important given that it is expected to reach parliament well ahead of the draft Data Protection Bill that is under development.”

It says the legislation has strict provisions related to access to information in the citizen database, confidentiality, data sharing, and access to the database by security and intelligence agencies, among other issues.

Data protection

This notwithstanding, the APC posits that the “widespread increase in biometric data collection and storage” makes it urgent for the country to enact a strong data protection law.

Citing some of the instances of public and private sector biometrics data collection and use, the organisation cites the issuance of biometric passports, rollout of an Integrated Border Management System, voter registration, issuance of driver’s licences and certificates of conduct from the police, as well as SIM card registration, which has sparked privacy concerns, among others.

While a draft of the data protection legislation is said to have been made public for inputs, the APC urges that more work needs to be done and various proposals “need to be carefully considered” so that the legislation can eventually come alive, especially as the country looks to advance its digital government drive.

The UNDP has been using an Accelerator Lab programme to increase legal digital ID in Namibia.

The country also started issuing digital IDs to refugees in June.