September 16
We Do It Because Identity Matters
Be a part of the coalition of leading development agencies, government & public interest organizations who have joined forces to advocate for the adoption of September 16 as Identity Day.
IDENTITY DAY (ID Day)
The purpose of this day is to raise awareness about the important role identity plays in empowering individuals to exercise their rights and responsibilities fairly and equitably in a modern society.
Countries and organizations that choose to observe this day, would be encouraged to organize events and activities that stimulate public awareness and sensitize legislators and public servants about the responsible adoption of official identity and the necessary protections around it to ensure that it is a tool for public good.
JOURNEY
SDG 16.9 made ‘legal identity for all’ an important development goal which was embraced by all 193-member states at the United Nations. This campaign is the logical extension of that work.
The campaign was initiated by ID4Africa at the 4th Annual Meeting of the ID4Africa Movement on 24 April 2018, in Abuja, Nigeria. The launch was met with strong support whereby over 1500 individual signatures endorsing the proposition were collected. This represented nearly 99% of the delegates in attendance.
In early August of 2018, the campaign moved from individual to institutional engagement in preparation for policy advocacy by these institutions that will sensitize UN member delegations and their governments about the importance of legal identity and will urge them to vote favorably on the proposed resolution when it reaches the UN General Assembly floor at a yet to be specified date.
CAMPAIGN
(1) This campaign will be run in several phases, the first is to build the coalition of partners, a process which has started in August 2018. A coalition partner is any identity stakeholder (public, governmental, not for profit and institutions of public interest) that endorses the proposes that September 16 as an observance day for identity.
(2) The campaign will identify one or few countries to propose the resolution at the next open UNGA, which can be as early as Sept 2019. But we will need the proposed agenda item in May 2019.
(3) When the proposition gets on the agenda, the campaign will reach out to all the coalition partners with briefing material asking them to sensitize their UN Delegations and urge them to vote yes on the resolution. We do not expect this will be a big challenge because we are in total alignment with SDG 16.9. We are simply going beyond the goal by declaring the day as a special observance day.
CALL TO ACTION
Lest the world forgets the importance of identity, we urge all policy makers to join the coalition to help create a permanent reminder that will give each country the opportunity, on an annual basis, to regroup and assess its progress towards this most fundamental human development goal. It does not imply any financial commitment but it demonstrates that your institution endorses this initiative.
In order to join and have your logo displayed on this page, please contact:
Patience Elango or Stefane Daley at
Email: contact@id-day.org
Mobile: +237 773 24838