Interpol calls for e-ID cards

Verifiable electronic identity cards (e-IDs) can help countries regulate migration levels and manage borders, says global police agency, Interpol.

The organisation's secretary-general Ronald Noble emphasises the need for a globally verifiable e-ID system for migrant workers.

He says issuing migrant workers e-ID cards in a globally verifiable format will reduce corruption, and enable cardholders to be eligible for electronic remittance schemes that will foster greater economic development and prosperity in Interpol member countries.

This comes at a time when SA is still struggling with rolling out a smart ID system for its citizens. The country has been planning to speed up the introduction of electronic ID cards and passports since 2005.

The introduction of the e-ID system is an effort to crack down on identity fraud.

The project was planned to be piloted by the end of 2008, using pensioners as the sample group, but this did not happen.

The department is still working on the citizens' smart ID card project. This will be piloted this financial year and will be rolled out in the 2012/13 financial year, promised home affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

Head of communication at the Department of Home Affairs, Ronnie Mamoepa, says at the moment in SA, migrant workers are issued with the relevant temporary or permit residence permits (for instance, a work permit).

“This is issued after an application to the department and the provision of the relevant documents, including a valid passport from the country of origin. Their entry into and stay in SA is, therefore, regularised in this way.”

Electronic ID cards adoption has made progress towards becoming universal, globally around the world. According to reports, over 33% of the global population have smart ID cards and some of those have biometric facial and fingerprint systems.

Noble says: “Such a card requires developing a mechanism whereby the biometric identity features of migrants, such as fingerprints and DNA, would be checked systematically against global databases.”

He explains that if countries were to issue work and residence permits in an e-ID format that satisfied common standards internationally, then both the migrant workers and the countries would benefit because efficiencies would improve, security at the national and global level would improve.

“Regulating migration levels and managing borders present security challenges for countries and for the world and Interpol was ideally placed to help address this challenge,” Noble says.

According to the secretary-general, there is a need for governments to put in place systems at the national level that would permit the identity of migrants and their documents to be verified internationally via Interpol. “This is important, especially at a time when global migration is reaching record levels.”

He points out that the vast majority of migrants are law-abiding citizens who would like to have their identities verified in more than one country using the same identity document.

Interpol helps member countries screen travel documents of international air travellers approximately one-half a billion times a year, he says.

“It would be a natural extension of this service to assist member countries in determining whether bearers of a globally verified identity card were in possession of a valid identity document, or are wanted internationally for arrest via Interpol at the time that they applied for a work or residence permit,” he adds.