IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
The current pandemic is disrupting CRVS systems all over the world, but also highlighting why well-functioning systems are more essential than ever. As a result, the UN Statistics Division, the World Health Organization and the UN Legal Identity Agenda Task Force developed COVID-19 resources offering guidance for civil registration stakeholders on maintaining CRVS activities.
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The Second Ministerial Conference on CRVS will be taking place from the 16th to 19th November, 2021. It will be the occasion to celebrate progress through the CRVS Decade (2015-2024), identify remaining challenges, emphasize CRVS for sustainable development and promote CRVS as the foundation for legal identity. Preparations to get as much valuable inputs for the conference has already started, for example through the children and youth consultation, have already started and updates will be published on this website regularly.
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ESCAP is collecting country midterm questionnaires to measure regional progress through the midpoint of the CRVS Decade (2015-2024). Responses will inform and guide preparations for the Second Ministerial Conference in November 2021.
What are the numbers so far?
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The CRVS community in Asia and the Pacific is now actively preparing for the celebration of the midpoint of the CRVS Decade (2015-2024), planned for 16 to 19 November 2021. In this effect, many of our partners and member countries are leading actions and publications to establish where the region stands and to fill the remaining gaps. To learn more about CRVS in Asia and the Pacific and keep updated on preparations for the Ministerial Conference, please subscribe to our newsletter, which offers a monthly panorama of CRVS actions throughout the region Previous editions can be found here. |
Each month, our community newsletter puts a spotlight on one person from Asia-Pacific who has gone above and beyond in their efforts to support CRVS programmes, raise awareness of CRVS issues or lead CRVS improvement efforts in their home country. This month we are happy to highlight Mr. Hasibullah Mowahed from Afghanistan.
The Center of Excellence has recently published a compendium of good practices on Harnessing Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) in Conflict, Emergencies and Fragile Settings. It provides successful examples of building or managing CRVS systems in times of crises such as conflicts or natural disasters. These situations put strain on CRVS systems while also making registration more critical for people to access their rights.
The Government of Bangladesh, supported by the Data for Health initiative, has started implementing a nationwide program to strengthen civil registration systems. The model was first implemented in Kaliganj province of Bangladesh for several years and uses frontline medical workers to assist with civil registration of births and deaths. This change of approach has lessened the burden on families and has gained high level government support and strong collaboration between ministries.
In 2019, the CRVS Department and the Vanuatu Electoral Office (VEO) established a joint nationwide project to undertake combined civil and voter registration, issuing National ID cards.
A new identity checking system has been established in Vanuatu for coming provincial elections to in May. Scanners will be used to double-check voter's identity and voting eligibility based on their national ID cards.
Globally and across Central Asia, UNHCR has been advocating to end statelessness through the #IBelong campaign and has celebrated recent efforts in Turkmenistan to end statelessness by 2024.
In 2014, governments across Asia-Pacific committed to strengthening CRVS systems and advance universal civil registration to support good governance, health and development.
However, due to a lack of data, we do not know if the most vulnerable people are being registered, which could mean hard to reach and marginalized people, including women and girls, remain invisible, compounding the inequality they face.
The Regional Steering Group is responsible for overseeing and steering the implementation of the Regional Action Framework on Civil Registration and Vital Statistics in Asia and the Pacific, also acting as the custodian of the Asia and Pacific CRVS Deca
