The Rwandan government has recently approved civil registration systems at health facilities around the country where appointed workers can legally register events including births and deaths.
During an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Tuesday 16 June, the decision was revealed in a statement.
Cabinet accepted a long-awaited declaration “Ministerial Order determining a health officer with powers of a civil registrar.”
In the past, for things to work properly, what was required was notification but not registration as a civil registrar has to be on a health facility.
The same cabinet meeting also approved the presidential order defining a Cell Executive Officer’s responsibilities.
The Order gives the Cell Executive Secretary the power to record births and deaths based on the information provided by the head of the village where the event took place if it“occur in places other than a health facility for persons having known civil status.”
The development follows the publication of an amended 2016 Law Governing Persons and Family on February 2, with specially changed civil registration clauses to improve the recording of civil events such as births and deaths.
Among other things, the revised law states that a health facility official has the authority of a civil registrar to record births and deaths that occur there.
The Minister ‘s approved Civil Registration Order, which is the Minister of Local Government, specifies, among others, the health facility officer who has that power, his or her responsibilities, and the ways in which such responsibilities can be fulfilled.
While waiting for the approval of the Ministerial Order, Josephine Mukesha, the National Identification Agency’s Director-General, said earlier that they had already trained two people at each health facility in the country.
Mukesha said on Wednesday,“I am very happy! Especially now, with Covid-19 restrictions, this comes as a way to ensure civil registration is continuous and done at the place of events, in this case health facilities.”
There are over 550 health facilities in the country-including private ones-and all have trained staff ready to perform civil registration duties.
Civil registration as defined by the United Nations is the continuous, permanent, compulsory and uniform record of the occurrence and characteristics of the population’s vital events, such as birth and death, in accordance with law.
CRVS is very important, as it is the basis for someone’s identification, according to Mukesha.
Recently, she says, there is more emphasis on birth and death because they are the most important points in ensuring that everyone is actually identified and thus has access to the rights and services to which they are entitled either as citizens of a country or as residents; refugees or foreigners.
Rwanda acknowledges nine vital events: birth, death, marriage and divorce, marriage annulment, guardianship, adoption, recognition, and legitimation.
From the point of view of civil registration, the registration of such events allows citizens to receive benefits including services to which they are entitled.
And from the perspective of vital statistics, Mukesha said, timely and accurate reporting of these incidents allows for the extraction of vital statistics used as planning metrics, fact-based decision taking and policy formulation.
