Civil Identity Program of the Americas

PUICA supports the member states of the OAS in their efforts to eradicate under-registration, in order to ensure recognition of the right to civil identity for all persons in the region.

All PUICA activities are geared towards fulfilling the five objectives set by the Inter-American Program for Universal Civil Registry and the Right to Identity: Currently, some 10% [2] of children born in Latin America and Caribbean officially do not exist as their births were never recorded.

This means that the states have no proof of their existence and that those children will therefore have no protection from a variety of violations and will also be excluded from basic services.

In their effort to spur access to civil records, national registration institutions have been continually come up with practices that are delivering positive results.

A key element of the PUICA strategy is the promotion of partnership – between and among different countries of the Region, and between and among local and international cooperation players, the aim being to: PUICA has worked in various countries of Latin America and the Caribbean: Mobile registration and publicity campaigns Through mobile registration and publicity campaigns in the Yungas, Manco Kapac, Beni and Chuquisaca regions, and in collaboration with the National Civil Registry Bureau of Bolivia, the right to identity is now a reality for more than 15,000 individuals, most of them indigenous.

At the request of the Government of Guatemala, PUICA also audited the National Registry of Persons processes in 2010 and is supporting that institution as it implements the recommendations.

As with the Bolivia and El Salvador operations, the projects executed in Guatemala were funded by the Spanish Cooperation Agency.

Awareness In Mexico, the strategy is based on cooperation with the National Registry of Population and Personal Identification to promote civil identity nationwide.

The Civil Registry will be provided with support to carry out mobile registration and publicity campaigns in indigenous communities.

Rebuilding destroyed records Through the system of mobile registration and publicity campaigns, more than 15,000 people have been registered in Peru.