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OAS to Support the Renewing of Identity Documents in Guatemala

  September 7, 2010

The Organization of American States (OAS) will support the process of renewing of national identity documents in Guatemala, carried out through the National Registry of Persons (RENAP). A request from the Government of Guatemala to the OAS has initiated an audit of the processes involving the issuance of the Personal Identity Document (DPI).

The OAS General Secretariat addresses this process with extreme care and considers it of fundamental importance to the strengthening of democratic institutions and governance in the country after problems with the issuance of DPIs. In this context, OAS specialists on the civil registry and identity conducted a Technical Mission at the RENAP on August 12 and 13 with the goal of identifying existing difficulties and implementing a strategy of technical assistance for the strengthening of the institution and its processes of registration and identification.

The Civil Identity Program in the Americas (PUICA), of the Department for Effective Public Management of the OAS Secretariat for Political Affairs, has begun to audit the processes, operations and applied technologies. It is an integral analysis that will respond to all the needs of the institution for the issuance of the DPI. The audit will be conducted for six weeks, at the end of which period a diagnosis will be made on the current situation of the systems for the issuance of the DPI and concrete short- and medium-term recommendations will be offered.

The final audit report will also have a calendar for the RENAP to implement the reengineering of its processes and to deliver its concrete products and services in a safe way.

The OAS reaffirms its commitment to support the State of Guatemala, and in particular the RENAP, and to bring technical assistance that contributes to the strengthening of the registry and the processes of documentation that will lead to the universality of the right of identity of all Guatemalans.

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

Reference: E-317/10