There are a handful of countries that have
largely managed to address the problem of ensuring that all citizens have the
identification documents they will need in order to vote; others have, by
necessity, created an alternative avenue for registering and voting without
documentation. They have been able to do
so by acknowledging the issue in the first place, putting in a great deal of
concentrated work, and investing a significant amount of government
resources. Peru is leading the way to
demonstrating how a country where numerous people are poor and may be in remote
areas and have no documents can be reached and provided with the power of the
vote. Panama provides an example of a
country in which the problem of lack of documentation is largely avoided. Finally, there are countries in Africa that
allow citizens to prove their identity through means other than physical
documentation.
In
Peru, in order to get the ID card (DNI) required to register and vote one must
have a birth certificate. According to a publication of the Ministry of Economy
and Finance (MEF), in recent years as many as 871,263 Peruvians of age had no
identity documents, most of them in rural and poor communities.[i]
The document noted that in many cases there were no government offices in some
areas because the villages were so remote; residents would have to devote
considerable time and resources to get to an office. In addition, the report
found that poverty and lack of documentation were highly correlated. The MEF
concluded that,
Based on these references, we can deduce
that the population living in poverty or extreme poverty is not in a position
to assume the costs that are really necessary when completing all the processes
to have personal documents issued. In this sense, getting a birth certificate
is free, but it is impossible for this population to afford the expenses
involved to travel to the nearest health post and request a birth certificate,
and for this reason birth certificates cannot be issued massively.
For this same reason, this part of the
population does not always register births, and registering the children later
on is impossible for them because it can cost between S/.5.00 and S..50.00
Nuevos Soles in some municipalities. The possibility of having a DNI later on
entails a registration cost of S/.23.00 Nuevos Soles, a rather high cost for
the aforementioned sectors since it represents 20% of their per capita monthly
income.
Lack of economic means by a portion of the
population leads to most of them not having a Birth Certificate, and without
this document it is impossible to do the necessary formalities to have access
to a DNI, hence increasing the undocumented population.[ii]
The MEF also cited the conflict of the
1980s and 1990s as another reason for the high number of undocumented in Peru,
as the conflict resulted in many damaged civil registry offices and registry
books.[iii]
Peru however has confronted these problems
and devoted resources to tackling them effectively and continues to do so.
According to the election management body’s (RENIEC) most recent strategic
report,
As of December 31, 2012, RENIEC had
identified a total of 26,444,052 Peruvians who have a DNI, which represents 88.8% of the country’s
population. 19,250,609 of this total number of people with DNI are Peruvians of
legal age who reside in Peru, which represents 99.7%, and 7,193,609 are minors, which represents 66.9% of the country’s
population of minors. If you compare these figures with 2006 figures, you can
confirm that by 2010 a total of 8,480,881 more Peruvians have been identified as
having a DNI. Of this total, 1,841,887 are of legal age and 6,638,994 are
minors, hence highlighting the growing importance of issuing identifications
for minors in recent years in the country… To carry out these tasks,
RENIEC has a nationwide coverage of 235 registry offices, agencies and service
points, as well as 48 auxiliary registry offices - ORA located in MOH Hospitals
and ESSALUD in most of the 25 regions of our country.[iv]
RENIEC
has also attempted to address the issue of persons with disabilities without
documentation, most recently by establishing a government working group and
launching a campaign to provide identity cards to people in institutions.[v]
According to a report of the Inter-American
Development Bank,
RENIEC successfully developed and implemented
a national plan for the restitution of identity as a result of a final report
generated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This commission was
established in 2001 to investigate events that took place during the internal
conflict in Peru, which spanned two decades. During this period, an estimated
70,000 people were killed or disappeared, and many were internally displaced.
Moreover, local registration offices, along with the registration books, were
burned completely or vandalized, which left a number of individuals without
documentation and consequently extremely vulnerable…
RENIEC has undergone important institutional
transformation since its creation, and it is now recognized as one of the most
efficient, sustainable, and transparent civil registries in the region.
Throughout the last five years, RENIEC has expanded the reach of its services
to get closer to the denizens, not only by setting up more offices but by
travelling to and providing services to the most remote areas of Peru and by
offering services using the internet and other communication methods. As these
actions have helped RENIEC reach the neediest and most marginalized
populations, public confidence for the institution has grown over time.[vi]
Nonetheless,
the problem of undocumented citizens does persist in Peru, and the government
continues to work at it. Early in 2012 there were reports that RENIEC was
carrying out an investigation in areas that continue to have high levels of
undocumented persons to learn more about the causes and to develop strategies
that take into account culture and geographic challenges to documentation. Many
of the undocumented in Peru are in rural jungle areas. As a result, according
to reports RENIEC was planning to provide services free of charge, travel to
communities by river to service them, and incorporate members of the indigenous
communities into the registration process. RENIEC is also working with UNICEF
to continue to tackle the registration of births and delivery of ID cards.
Since June 2011 the two entities have collaborated to provide registration and
documentation services to 69 Amazonian communities. “In Ucayali, in the central
Peruvian jungle, RENIEC recently reached the locality of Puerto Esperanza, in
the province of Purus, to process and issue identity documents to the locals.
RENIEC’s personnel arrived in the area, which can only be accessed by plane, to
accompany members of the Foreign Relations Commission of the Congress of the
Republic. 83 DNI applications and 60 identity documents were issued in that
jurisdiction.”[vii]
In Panama, virtually everyone is entered
into the civil registry at the time of birth and issued a birth certificate and
an identity number.[viii] To a large degree this is because some 95 percent of the population
is born in hospital[ix] where a registrar is on site. Upon turning eighteen, one must
petition the Electoral Tribunal (TSE) for a national ID card (“cedula de
identitdad”) and upon receiving it will be included on the voter registration
list automatically. The national ID card, sometimes called a personal identity
card, is required to vote.[x] Because photographs are included in the voter registry at each
polling place, the hope is that in the future there may be no need for a voter
to produce the physical card.[xi]
In order to acquire the ID card one must
present his or her birth certificate or the identification card of one parent.
If one has neither, one can provide other types of evidence, such as witnesses,
to prove birth in Panama, a process referred to as “late registration.” The
local official generally decides if the evidence is sufficient. However, for
cases on the border with Colombia, where there is a history of non-Panamanians
attempting to register, the materials are processed at the TSE headquarters in
Panama.[xii]
With respect to those Panamanians who are
undocumented, who were not registered at birth, the state has undertaken significant
efforts to get them documentation. The state also does a great deal to
publicize the voters’ list so that if someone is not included or his or her information
has changed (e.g. address), s/he can make the appropriate changes to the list.
The TSE also campaigns through use of the media and the Internet; in new
housing developments, shopping centers, and transportation hubs; and through
notices included in payroll checks and electricity, telephone, and water bills.[xiii] According to the president of the TSE, the Tribunal also campaigns
in “traditional Panamanian handicraft fairs throughout the country and tours
isolated places in the country with the voters list.”[xiv]
Lack of documents is pervasive in Africa
and many countries simply do not have the resources or capacity at this time to
ensure that all citizens get documentation in the way that Peru and Panama have
strived to do. Yet these governments
realize it is important that members of all communities, especially in
post-conflict situations, have access to the election system when one has been
established. As a result, they have provided alternatives to documents for the
purposes of voting. Typically, this
comes in the form of allowing for some kind of witness attestation as an
alternative.
For example, although elections in the
Democratic Republic of Congo have failed on many levels, with respect to the
law on voter identification procedures legislators and elections officials have
recognized that many Congolese may not have possess any documentation. Therefore the rules allow for a number of
alternatives in order to facilitate enfranchisement. The Democratic Republic of
Congo’s (DRC) 2 Law No. 04/028—Identification and Enrolment of Voters in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (2004)—requires in-person voter registration for
all citizens. The local registrar can vouch for the identity and nationality of
the applicants himself or herself. Otherwise, the applicant must provide one of
the following:
- A certificate of nationality or
a document attesting that you have applied for a certificate of nationality;
- A national driving license;
- A pupil or student card; or
If the potential voter has none of these
documents s/he can take an oath before the office of the registration center
which must be witnessed by five people registered on the electoral roll for
that registration center who have lived for at least five years in the
district. Upon so doing, the applicant is to receive a voter card on the spot.[xv] The voter card is to be presented at the polls on election day.
A description of the Ugandan process by the
International Criminal Court noted that, “Because the Electoral Commission is
aware of the problems people have in obtaining proof of identity and does not
wish to set the bar too high and discourage people from voting, they will
register people who do not have any form of identification on the basis of a
confirmation from others, such as neighbours, that they belong to a particular
residential area.”[xvi]
[ii] Id at p.5, as translated.
[iv] RENIEC Strategic Plan, 2011-2015, p.p. 4-5, as translated.
[v] Human Rights Watch, “I Want to Be A Citizen Like Any Other:
Barriers to Political Participation for People with Disabilities in Peru, May
15, 2012, p.61.
[vi]Mia Harbitz and Bettina Boekle-Giuffrida, Democratic Governance,
Citizenship, and Legal Identity: Linking
Theoretical Discussion and Operational Reality, Inter-American Development
Bank, May, 2009, p.p. 32-33.
[viii] Interview with Eduardo Valdez, Tribunal Magistrate Panama, May 28,
2012.
[x] Agreement No. 2, September 4, 2007, Consolidated Text.
[xi] Email exchange with Eduardo Valdez, Tribunal Magistrate, May 15,
2012.
[xii] Interview with Eduardo Valdez, Tribunal Magistrate Panama, May 28,
2012.
[xiii] Email exchange with author, Eduardo Valdez, Tribunal Magistrate,
May 15, 2012.
[xiv] Sixth Inter-American
Meeting of Electoral Management Bodies, June 22-23, 2009 - Ottawa, Canada
“Strengthening
Electoral Processes: The Role of Electoral Management Bodies between Elections,
Voter Registry, and International Electoral Observation,” Secretary General of
the Organization of American States (SG/OAS), p. 29.
