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Latin American, Caribbean, Asian and African countries shared knowledge to modernize civil identification systems

Panelists, agencies and institutions from 54 countries participated in the International Identity Management Conference in Seoul, Korea on September 23-25 organized by IDB, ADB, AfDB and the Government of the Republic of Korea 

Delegations representing public sector identity management from 54 countries and three regional development banks agreed to work on improving policies, use of technology and legal frameworks for better personal data protection and privacy, and to facilitate greater coordination between national identity and civil registration authorities and other key stakeholders in managing one’s identity. 

The agreements were reached at the First International Identity Management Conference (Id-M), which was held in Seoul, Korea on September 23 thru 25, 2014. 

The conference provided an opportunity to exchange specialized knowledge between institutions in modernizing identity and identification systems so that these systems will contribute to social, economic and political inclusion by guaranteeing a legal, unique and secure identity for all citizens and residents. 

This event was organized by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Korea through its Ministry of Security and Public Administration (MOSPA) in addition with the core organizing group consisting of representatives from the African Development Bank (AfDB) andthe Asian Development Bank (ADB). 

The topics included identity policies, basic registry issues, international document standards, biometrics, protection of personal data, cutting edge IT solutions, among others to provide a more secure and efficient environment for the management of identity and identification data. 

The driving forces behind the conference are the new requirements for proof of legal identity in an increasing number of contexts. Furthermore, every year over 50 million children begin life with no identity according to UNICEF. In Latin America and the Caribbean around 10 percent of the population lack proper registration, in Asia 30 percent and in Africa 60 percent. 

The Id-M conference produced the International Identity Management Seoul Statement, which called for comprehensive national identity policies and universal birth and death registration. In addition, governments were urged, among other things, to provide legal frameworks on personal data protection and privacy in civil identification management systems, and to intensify efforts to create robust identification management systems.

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