Global Public Health Challenges: Facing them in Africa (Third Biennial Conference)

Global Public Health Challenges: Facing them in Africa

University of the Witwatersrand | University of Pretoria - 17 - 19 November 2021

ARUA Centre of Excellence in Notions of Identity Early Career Researchers Workshop

Date: November 19, 2021, Time: 10:30AM to 12:40PM SAST

(U)Official Identification for Health?

SDG16.9 explicitly calls for providing legal identity for all, including birth registration by 2030? COVID19 has become a key enabler of this registration, through the requirement of different kinds of identification and evidence, of one’s status as a sufferer, survivor and/or vaccinated. The new additional COVID19 travel requirements, especially for travel have the capacity to validate or invalidate one’s travel status. In many places, the COVID19 vaccination status determines who can access which spaces, such as restaurants, offices, entertainment venues, sports grounds and more.

Debates of vaccine equity and apartheid highlight the significance of nationality to access, as those in richer countries are more likely to have access than others. In poorer countries, vaccines rationing is mediated through proof of national/citizenship identification, justified by the need of tracking. This has seen the increase in the amount and frequency of information collected about people’s movement, location, health, and general biometrics. But what are the implications of this for the individuals and the State? What else could this information be used for and with what consequences? What kinds of identities are likely to emerge? How legal and illegal are such potential identities? Identities and how they are constructed and deployed are key determinants of inclusion, access to resources and services, and to social stability.

This panel, comprising scholars, IT experts, researchers and policy makers working on COVID19, Law, Identification and Health will engage with these questions and more, focusing on:

1. Debates about the nexus between COVID19 and national identification processes;
2. Experiences associated with this nexus;
3. Implications of this nexus; and
4. Researching identities and identification processes.

Workshop Delivery mode:

Panellists will make short videos of their work, which will be availed to participants beforehand. Participants will be asked to view and share any questions triggered by the videos beforehand. The actual event will comprise of a free form discussion, where the moderator will engage the panellists and participants. In addition, we shall have breakout sessions and feedback plenary. 

Workshop Panel:  

Chairperson:

Prof. Keith Breckenridge, Deputy Director of the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (Wiser), Prof. of History, University of the Witwatersrand and Author of Biometric State: The Global Politics of Identification and Surveillance in South Africa, 1850 to the Present.

Panelists:

1. Gabriella Razzano, Research Associate and Legal Consultant, Founding Director of OpenUP, and Chairperson of the African Platform on Access to Information Working Group, South Africa.
2. Prof. John Effah, Associate Professor of Information Systems Department of Operations & Management Information Systems University of Ghana Business School, Ghana.
3. Prof. Tonny Oyana Principal, College of Computing and Information Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda.
4. Claudio Machado, IDM Independent Consultant, Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS), Brasília, Federal District, Brazil.
5. Prof. Jonathan Klaaren, Law School, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
6. Vinayak Bhardwaj, Regional Migration Advisor/Referent at Doctors without Borders (MSF) Southern Africa, South Africa.
7. Sanjay Dharwadker, Identity Standards Expert, United Nations (Digital identity in the humanitarian sector) and global identity standards, South Africa.