By Lynford Simpson, Staff Reporter
A JOINT Select Committee of Parliament began the examination of the draft of the National Registration Act, 2000, at Gordon House last Thursday.
The objective of the national registration system will be to provide each Jamaican citizen or long-term or permanent resident with a unique lifetime national identification number and a national identity card. Applicable persons who are permanent residents of Jamaica, whether citizens of Jamaica or not, will be required to be registered under the system. Citizens of Jamaica residing overseas and who are not registered will be required to be registered, once they make a request for passport renewal.
Health Minister, John Junor, says he does not foresee the work of the committee going beyond three sittings. "I suspect so (that three meetings will be enough)," Mr. Junor told The Gleaner after last Thursday's meeting. "I think that the primary issues in relation to policy have (already) been dealt with," he added.
The sticking point is likely to centre on the constitutionality of fingerprinting people as part of the identification exercise. Despite a Cabinet decision in December 2000, that fingerprinting would not be a requirement, the issue was raised again last Thursday and is to be considered by the committee.
At the next meeting set for February 28, the legislatures will consider which pieces of accompanying legislation will have to be amended. Among them is the Registration of Births and Deaths Act. Mr. Junor will be seeking the advice of the Attorney-General's department and the office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel in this regard.
The proposed system is also aimed at ensuring that at the time of registration, the names of both parents are on the relevant documents. Only 36 per cent of the more than 40,000 children born in 1999 had their fathers' names on their birth certificates. The number increased to 46 per cent in 2000.
"The challenge to the draftsmen now is to come up with a provision an amendment to the Registration of Births and Deaths Act that allows for a process that ensures that a person is registered with both parents," Junor said. He said that there may be methods of adjudication that would come into the question of determining paternity.
Committee member Mike Henry (JLP), in making a case for fingerprinting, suggested a public education campaign could serve to change the mindset of Jamaicans that the process was not a police matter reserved for criminals.
Ryan Peralto, another JLP committee member, supported fingerprinting as a biographic method of proper identification. "It's going to be a universal thing in very short order," he said warning that "this country is going to be left behind if we don't incorporate (fingerprinting) in a system like this."
Canute Brown (PNP) noted that with fingerprinting, it would be necessary to surrender the right to privacy for the national good. He urged that care be taken for the protection of the biographic data once recorded and pointed to the United Kingdom where a Data Protection Act has been passed.
A decision to establish a system of national registration was taken from as far back as 1978.
According to the objects and reasons of the Bill, the need for a national registration system has arisen out of a recognition of the increasing demand from public agencies in Jamaica for a common national identification system. The Electoral Office, Passport Office, Revenue Board, National Housing Trust, and the National Insurance Scheme have been named as some of the agencies in favour of such a move.
