from ADANE BIKILA in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Ethiopia Bureau
ADDIS ABABA, (CAJ News) – ETHIOPIA is to provide digital identity cards to 9 million citizens and residents in the next three years.
This is part of efforts to ensure better access to essential services.
An initiative of the Office of the Prime Minister, the National Identification Programme (NIDP) would also process these documents also for migrant returnees, internally-displaced people (IDPs) and other vulnerable groups by 2026.
“We are working towards making identity-enhanced mobility work,” Yodahe Zemichael, NIDP executive director, said.
NIDP has a cooperation agreement with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to facilitate access to the digital IDs documents for vulnerable migrant returnees, displaced persons and affected communities.
The organisations noted access to these documents were a prerequisite for global mobility and development.
IOM and NIDP will collaborate on identity governance, data protection, and inclusion initiatives to guarantee NIDP’s accessibility, enrollment, verification and authentication processes.
Abibatou Wane, IOM Ethiopia Chief of Mission, said vulnerable people have difficulty accessing basic socio-economic rights and necessities due to the absence of legal identification.
“This partnership enhances access to national digital ID for migrants, IDPs and affected communities,” Wane said.
IOM Ethiopia has assisted over 8 800 migrant returnees through Assisted Voluntary and Reintegration and Voluntary Humanitarian Return (AVR/VHR) programmes this year.
Most returnees to the East African country of 127 million people are from Djibouti, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
– CAJ News