ISSUE IV – Digital ID, access to rights, and statelessness 42. Ndaga Muntu is Uganda’s national digital ID system. Designed to fulfil national security purposes, Ndaga Muntu has failed to foster social inclusion.59 According to government data, whose reliability cannot be guaranteed, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice has calculated that “between 23% and 33% of Uganda’s adult population has not yet received a National Identity Card (NIC)”. Without a digital ID, the Ugandan identity of an individual can be questioned. The ID has also become the main evidence to prove Ugandan citizenship and a key to access basic human rights and services such as health and social security. Inability to obtain a digital ID can lead to a violation of multiple rights and is considered a form of ‘social death’, and’ and can even result in actual death.60 43. Inability to obtain Ndaga Muntu is particularly observed among women who consequently face barriers in accessing public health facilities and the elderly who cannot access social security as they cannot provide their date of birth and age. To date no special provisions have been put in place to assist women and older persons, especially those living in poverty, to acquire a Ndaga Muntu leading to a violation of their right to health and social security without discrimination.61 Also, stateless people are barred from obtaining a digital ID. Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Initiative for Social and Economic Rights, and Unwanted Witness, Chased Away and Left to Die. How a National Security Approach to Uganda’s National Digital ID Has Led to Wholesole Exclusion of Women and Older Persons, CHRGJ, (June 2021), page 8, available at: https://chrgj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CHRGJ-ReportChased-Away-and-Left-to-Die.pdf. 60 Ibid., page 11. 61 Center for Human Rights and Global Justice,Initiative for Social and Economic Rights, and Unwanted Witness, Chased Away and Left to Die. How a National Security Approach to Uganda’s National Digital ID Has Led to Wholesole Exclusion of Women and Older Persons, CHRGJ, (June 2021), page 62, available at: https://chrgj.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/CHRGJ-ReportChased-Away-and-Left-to-Die.pdf. 59 11