The General Department of Identification (GDI) said that a draft law on civil registry documents, statistics and identification will be finalised soon at the inter-ministerial level.
GDI said the modernisation of this legal framework will become an important legal tool to ensure sharing clear data and form the basis for planning development in society.
Minister of Interior Sar Kheng presided over the seventh meeting of the national committee to guide civil registry documents, statistics and identification on March 9. Also present were secretaries of state and undersecretaries of state from the interior ministry and other relevant ministries and institutions, provincial governors and specialists.
Sar Kheng said that 2021 marked the fifth year of the implementation of the "National Strategic Plan on Identification" after approval by the government in June 2016.
“The main goal of the national strategic plan is to set up common system of population identification and use the data in this system to serve the national interest. The system aims to maintain security, public order, enhance the quality of services and stimulate national economic development,” he said.
He added that the task to be done at this early stage is to prepare policies and legal framework and draft the law on civil registry documents, statistics and identification itself.
“As the way forward, we have to establish a common system of population identification, a system of civil registry documents, a registration system and the nationality data management system,” he said.
“The next step is to connect all systems together to collect and put data into a single system, which will be the main source of quality information for use in the purpose of managing population data and improving the quality of public services."
Kang Sokhon, head of the General Department of Identification, said the draft law would be finalised soon before being submitted to a workshop for consultations.
He added that to improve the efficiency of providing identification services to people, the interior ministry decided to establish an identity service and quick reaction team to accept comments, requests and challenges in need of solutions.
Ministry of Justice permanent secretary of state Chan Sotheavy made a brief report on the establishment of the drafting team to the completion of the draft and subsequent meetings until successful completion.
The draft law on civil registry documents, statistics and identification is to respond to the government's policy to modernise the Kingdom's legal framework.
The law will become a tool to ensure the sharing of accurate data as required by relevant authorities and form the basis for planning development and monitoring the progress of society.
The law also ensures the protection of the rights of all citizens living in Cambodia so that everyone has a legal identity by providing a unique individual identification number for each person.
