Introduction to Digital ID Table of Contents Table of Contents List of Acronyms.................................................................................................................4-5 Introduction to Digital ID. ...........................................................................................7-11 Regional Overview...................................................................................................... 13-47 Table 1 - Primary legal identity document across Asia Pacific ................................................................ 24-26 Table 2 - Status of digital ID systems across Asia-Pacific. ......................................................................... 27-33 Table 3 - Domestic legal framework for digital ID across Asia-Pacific .. . ............................................ 34-40 Table 4 - Domestic legal framework for data protection and privacy across Asia-Pacific . ......... 41-45 Table 5 - Ratification of Statelessness Conventions across Asia-Pacific............................................ 46-47 Endnotes.......................................................................................................................... 48-50 Introduction to Digital ID In the 21st century, there has been a massive shift in priority away from traditional Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) systems towards digital identity (digital ID) systems for many development actors. The World Bank’s Identification for Development (ID4D) Initiative, established in 2014, was a crucial catalyst to “help countries realize the transformational potential of digital Identification systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs]”. The United Nations and other development actors have also characterized digital ID as having ‘transformative’ potential to increase the convenience and efficiency of public and private services, and to achieve SDG 16.9, to “provide Legal identity for all, including birth registration” by 2030. Digital ID systems are a foundational part of digital public infrastructure (DPI), which is a structure that enables governments to deliver services digitally to the public. As governments establish DPI to deliver services through a streamlined, digital platform, creating digital ID systems allow them to verify the public’s identities to securely deliver such services. Through ID4D, the World Bank has played a major role in many countries’ DPI development, including digital ID system design and implementation, largely through assistance with “analytics, assessments, and funding”. Between 2015 and 2020, the World Bank’s Initiatives provided over 60 countries support in establishing digital ID systems. While digital ID systems, as an integral part of DPI, have the potential to streamline public and private services and increase efficiency of government service delivery, without principles of human rights built into its design, they can also amplify the exclusion, discrimination and inequality that exists in traditional CRVS systems. In a 2020 UNHCR analysis on emerging digital technologies and the right to privacy, a key finding was “that emerging digital technologies exacerbate and compound existing inequities, many of which exist along racial, ethnic and National origin grounds”. The analysis notes that “without stringent protections, digital Identification systems for public services disproportionately exclude racial and ethnic minorities, especially those whose citizenship status is insecure”. Lack of transparency of how digital ID systems are designed and who is consulted in the process makes it difficult for civil society to monitor for potential exclusion or discrimination, putting the onus for regulating the systems on governments. Further, digital ID systems store user data, often including biometrics such as photos and fingerprints which are highly sensitive and have the potential to put people at risk if that data is leaked or used for purposes beyond identity verification. In many countries’ regulatory frameworks for digital ID systems, data collected for such systems is set to be used for specified purposes beyond identity verification, such as National security, which could lead to surveillance of immigrant populations, refugees, and stateless people. One of the 10 Principles of the ID4D Initiative is to “ensure universal access for individuals, free from discrimination”, yet many states’ require citizenship in order to access a digital ID, excluding stateless people. Nationality for All (NFA), through its Third Edition has expanded the Statelessness Encyclopedia Asia Pacific (SEAP) in an effort to begin filling the gap in available information on how digital ID systems are designed in the Asia Pacific region, particularly how they impact stateless people. The application of digital ID systems typically focuses on citizens, which has also been the case in Asia Pacific, which often results in citizenship centric digital ID systems. This reinforces the systematic exclusion that often prevents stateless people from accessing essential services including healthcare, Education, a bank account, and employment. Digital ID discourse is also often highly technical 6 7 STATELESSNESS ENCYCLOPEDIA ASIA PACIFIC THIRD EDITION - REGIONAL OVERVIEW REPORT 2026