dependent on having an NIC or NIN. In light of the significant coverage gaps and other exclusionary issues identified in this report, requiring Ndaga Muntu for access to these human rights is guaranteed to exclude a significant part of the Ugandan population, including women, older persons and those living in poverty, from access to their human rights. Until all people in Uganda have free and easy access to Ndaga Muntu, a requirement to demand an NIC or NIN to access social rights, including the right to health and social security, should not be imposed. To give effect to this recommendation, Section 65 and Section 66 of the Registration of Persons Act, which dictate the mandatory use of NINs, NICs, and the NIR, should be amended accordingly, allowing programmes such as SAGE to change their own policies. We add that this recommendation builds on a growing global movement of civil society organizations and experts that warn against making digital IDs mandatory for access to human rights,223 based on specific experience and evidence from countries as diverse as Kenya, Jamaica, and India.224 2. The Ugandan government’s need to identify beneficiaries of the social services it provides can be satisfied by allowing individuals to use alternative forms of identification. We understand that the government of Uganda has an interest in efficiently identifying the beneficiaries of the social rights it provides. But Ndaga Muntu is not the only form of identification that currently exists in Uganda and it is not the only form of identification that has been used for identification purposes in social services. Until all people in Uganda have free and easy access to Ndaga Muntu, alternative forms of identification should be accepted to access social rights. Such alternative forms of identification may include, but should not necessarily be limited to: passports, voter IDs, birth certificates, driver’s licenses, LC1 letters, and baptism cards. Allowing for alternative forms of identification to access social rights will resolve many of the present exclusionary and human rights problems identified in this report, while acknowledging the government’s interest in requiring individuals to identify themselves. Section 66 of the Registration of Persons Act, which dictates the mandatory use of NICs, should be amended accordingly. 3. NIRA is in urgent need of structural reform. As recounted in this report, NIRA currently has neither the capacity nor the funding to meet the many demands placed on it. Problems have been publicly acknowledged by the President of Uganda, NIRA now has new management, and has already been the object of audits by the Office of the Auditor General and Parliament. We recommend that the Ugandan government hit the ‘pause’ button for a thorough and comprehensive evaluation of the Ndaga Muntu system and the role of NIRA especially. More specifically, we believe there is an urgent need: (i) To re-assess the expiry of current NICs in 2024 and the recent government announcement of replacing all Ndaga Muntu cards by 2024 with an expensive chipped card. In light of the current and severe exclusionary problems within the Ndaga Muntu system and the enduring How a National Security Approach to Uganda’s National Digital ID Has Led to Wholesale Exclusion of Women and Older Persons 75