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- Goal 2
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The statutory authority on civil registration in PNG is the Civil & Identity Registry Office, which depends of the Department for Community Development & Religion. Its governing law is the Civil Registration Act, lastly amended in 2014. The vital statistics are produced and published by the National Statistics Office. Civil registration data is also collected through the health system which tabulates births and deaths on a monthly basis. Medical certificates of death are completed for some deaths at the request of the family but were until recently not centrally collated and primarily for family use. Older systems of recording births and deaths such as village registers are also still in use in some areas through Provincial governments. A CRVS committee was established in 2014, with different agencies, including the Department of Health, the Civil & Identity Registry Office, the National Statistics Office and the Planning and Monitoring Department.
In the past years, the PNG government has started implementing a largescale National ID program which is still underway. Providing every citizen with an ID card has been identified as a core priority. Birth certificates now come with unique number to facilitate the provision of a NID card when reaching 18. A centralized database has been created to retrieve the information quicker and more easily.
Mr. Noel Mobiha, Acting Registrar-General, National Civil & Identity Registry Office
And Mr. Nicholas Piauka, Policy Manager, National Civil & Identity Registry Office
Goal 1. Universal civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events |
Goal 1 Targets:
Goal 2. All individuals are provided with legal documentation of civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events, as necessary, to claim identity, civil status and ensuing rights |
Goal 2 Targets:
Goal 3. Accurate, complete and timely vital statistics (including on causes of death) are produced based on registration records and are disseminated |
Goal 3 Targets:
Goal 1. Universal civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events |
Goal 1 is an expression of the internationally accepted principle of the universal coverage of civil registration. The CRVS system should register all vital events occurring in the territory and jurisdiction of the country or area, including among hard-to-reach and marginalized populations.
National Targets:
TARGET
202490%
MIDTERM
201713.4%
TARGET
202490%
baseline
20152%
MIDTERM
201915%
TARGET
202470%
baseline
2011%<1%
MIDTERM
2017<3%
TARGET
202425%
Goal 2. All individuals are provided with legal documentation of civil registration of births, deaths and other vital events, as necessary, to claim identity, civil status and ensuing rights |
Goal 2 reflects that CRVS systems provide legal documentation of civil registration to individuals and families for legal and administrative purposes. Legal documentation is strongly linked with a broad range of rights and activities, in particular legal identity. This goal addresses the distinction between the civil registration of a vital event and the possession of formal proof that it took place, in the form of legal documentation.
National Targets:
Goal 3. Accurate, complete and timely vital statistics (including on causes of death) are produced based on registration records and are disseminated |
Goal 3 highlights the critical importance of civil registration being linked to the production and quality assurance of vital statistics on the occurrence and characteristics of vital events.
National Targets:
TARGET
Target achieved
TARGET
Target achieved
Note: This target was not monitored as part of the Midterm Questionnaire on the Implementation of the Regional Action Framework for CRVS in Asia and the Pacific.
Note: In light of recent countries’ experiences, Verbal autopsy is not encouraged to be applied to a large population scale, but rather on a representative sample. To reflect this, Target 3E is not anymore monitored by the coverage percentage of Verbal autopsy, but by the use or not of Verbal autopsy and its different applications.
MIDTERM
Yes
TARGET
2024
TARGET
2024
TARGET
2024

National Coordination Mechanism
Status in Papua New Guinea: Complete

Comprehensive Assessment
Status in Papua New Guinea: Complete

National Targets for 2024
Status in Papua New Guinea: Complete

Monitoring & Reporting Plan
Status in Papua New Guinea: Not started

Inequality Assessment
Status in Papua New Guinea: Not started

National Strategy
Status in Papua New Guinea: Complete

National Focal Point
Status in Papua New Guinea: Complete

Reporting to ESCAP - Baseline
Status in Papua New Guinea: Complete

Reporting to ESCAP - Midterm
Status in Papua New Guinea: Complete
The statutory authority on civil registration in PNG is the Civil & Identity Registry Office, which depends of the Department for Community Development & Religion. Its governing law is the Civil Registration Act, lastly amended in 2014. The vital statistics are produced and published by the National Statistics Office. Civil registration data is also collected through the health system which tabulates births and deaths on a monthly basis. Medical certificates of death are completed for some deaths at the request of the family but were until recently not centrally collated and primarily for family use. Older systems of recording births and deaths such as village registers are also still in use in some areas through Provincial governments. A CRVS committee was established in 2014, with different agencies, including the Department of Health, the Civil & Identity Registry Office, the National Statistics Office and the Planning and Monitoring Department.
In the past years, the PNG government has started implementing a largescale National ID program which is still underway. Providing every citizen with an ID card has been identified as a core priority. Birth certificates now come with unique number to facilitate the provision of a NID card when reaching 18. A centralized database has been created to retrieve the information quicker and more easily.
Mr. Noel Mobiha, Acting Registrar-General, National Civil & Identity Registry Office
And Mr. Nicholas Piauka, Policy Manager, National Civil & Identity Registry Office