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OAS Program Aims for Universal Access to Civil Identity in Grenada

  September 19, 2012

The Organization of American States (OAS), through its Universal Civil Identity Program in the Americas, has begun scanning birth, death, marriage and adoption documents in Grenada in an effort to ensure that everyone in the country has access to a civil identity.

Responding to a request from its six Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Member States, the OAS began a comprehensive modernization of civil registry information to increase the transparency, accuracy and efficiency of the civil registries in the region and provide a secure repository for these public records.

In 2011, the OAS procured equipment and hired data entry clerks who digitalized 91 percent of birth certificates and incorporated them in an application developed specifically for the countries of the Eastern Caribbean. Although the project was briefly suspended, as of September 5, 2012, thanks to funding provided by the Government of the Republic of Korea, the program has resumed.

Project officials say they expect nearly all of the vital statistics records to be scanned and registered within six months.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-321/12