CITIZENSHIP AND STATELESSNESS IN THE HORN OF AFRICA \Y issued in Somali.'”' This system broke down with the collapse of central government, although some municipalities do still issue identity documents. As of 2018, Somalia was believed to be the country in the world where the highest percentage of the population did not hold any official central government identity document.'”* Only those few who are in formal employment or travel internationally hold a passport. Nonetheless, lack of identity documents is also identified as increasing the risk of a household having unmet needs in health, nutrition, and food security.'7° Somalia is in the process of establishing a digital national identity system.'74 Following an evaluation by the World Bank published in 2016,'” a “digital uplift project” was approved, including the establishment of a specialized authority to administer a digital ID system, issuing unique identity numbers to individuals based on their biometric data and other basic information.'76 Any adult resident of the country will be eligible to register and be issued a digital identity document, whether or not the person has any existing documentation.'7” identity documents, is a citizen or This biometric database would then be the foundation for other including driver's licences, passports, and voter registration cards.'”® The priority use for the biometric register envisaged by the World Bank support is in the financial sector, enabling financial institutions to fulfil their “know your customer” (KYC) obligations as well as online authentication of identity — transactions where citizenship is not relevant.'”? It is intended that the digital identity system will be linked to the planned civil registration system, but the way in which this would happen has not been determined. '®° 171 Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Somalia: Information on the procedure for the issuing of identity cards, 1 October 1994, SOM18375.E, available at: hitps://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6acb447.htmi. 172 World Bank, ‘Identification for Development (1D4D) Global Dataset’, Identification for Development Initiative (Washington, D.C., June 2018), https://id4d. worldbank.org/global-dataset. 173 Somalia Joint Multi-Cluster Needs Assessment (JMCNA), Round IV, UN OCHA / REACH, September 2020, Table 1, p.22. https://www.impactrepository.org/document/reach/1fae158b/REACH SOM Report JMCNA September-2020.pdf 174 Somalia: Identity documents, including national ID cards, passports and driver's licences, and the requirements and procedures to obtain them; percentage of the population that holds some form of identity document; whether such documents are accepted elsewhere (2018-July 2020), SOM200235.E, Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa, 28 August 2020 https://irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/countryinformation/rir/pages/index.aspx ?doc=458174&pls=1 . 1% Toward a Somali Identification System: ID4D Diagnostic, World Bank, 2016 http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/185701524689472792/Somalia-ID4DDiaqgnostic-Web040418. pdf 17 Somalia - Capacity Advancement, Livelihoods and Entrepreneurship through Digital Uplift Project, Project Appraisal Document PAD3015, World Bank, 22 February 2019. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/267241552269666297/Somalia-Capacity-Advancement-Livelihoods-and-Entrepreneurshipthrough-Digital-Uplift-Project. See information at the project webpage: https://projects.worldbank.org/en/projects-operations/project-detail/P168115. 177 Federal Government of Somalia, Ministry of Interior, Federal Affairs & Reconciliation, “Digital identification Policy”, June 2019, annex 2 (Somali version online at: https://qoobjoog.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/1D-Policy-Somali-cover-final-. pdf). 178 Hassan Omar Mahadallah, Senior Advisor of Somali National 1D Program, Challenges and Solutions for the Development of an ID System in Post-Conflict Areas: Somalia as a Case Study, presentation to ID4Africa Conference 2019, https://www.id4africa.com/2019_ event/presentations/InF5/4-Hassan- Mahadallah-Somalia.pdf 179 Interview, World Bank ID4D, 6 January 2021. 180 Interview, head of civil registration, Ministry of the interior, 9 December 2020 44 UNHCR — December 2021