Civil status registration system evaluated

The operation was launched recently in Yaounde by the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, in charge of Regional and Local Authorities.

An operation to evaluate Cameroon’s civil status registration system was officially launched in Yaounde recently by the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation, in charge of Regional and Local Authorities, Jules Doret Ndongo. Like several other countries in Africa, Cameroon remains prone to unregistered births and deaths.

The evaluation thus aims at measuring the gap between the current situation and desirable level that will enable each person to be registered in the civil status system and to enjoy their rights.

During the launch, the representative of the Regional Support Group to the Africa Programme on Accelerated Improvement of Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (APAI CRVS), Ghitu-I-Mundunge, said it is important to evaluate and identify bottlenecks and potentials of the civil status systems before improving them.

While outlining groundbreaking reforms carried out after a new law on May 6, 2011 modifying the 1981 law on Civil Status Registration, Jules Doret Ndongo, expressed government’s commitment to the evaluation process.

He said is complementary to an earlier evaluation carried out 2007 and aims to incorporate certain aspects. The African Union lays emphasis on the importance of statistics, the registration of divorces, with due consideration given to deaths.

The evaluation of civil status system was a key recommendation of the Second Meeting of African Ministers in charge of Civil Status Registration that held in Durban, South Africa in 2012 and of the Third Meeting that held in Yamoussoukro, Côte d’Ivoire in February 2015.