Massive investment is needed to render Côte d’Ivoire’s civil status system effective in light of these and other enormous practical challenges. Systemic reform began during the country’s postconflict recovery process with the Program to Modernize Côte d’Ivoire’s Civil Status System.127 Further efforts are therefore necessary to encourage the Ivorian government to fundamentally revitalize its civil status system, not just in the interests of the prevention and reduction of statelessness, but also as a fundamental tool for child protection and crucial element for the rule of law more generally. 4.2. Personal identification of nationals and foreigners in Côte d’Ivoire It is mandatory for all Ivorians older than 16 years of age to carry a national ID card as administrative proof of their identity before all administrative authorities or the police. This obligation has been in place since 1962.128 In the same year, a circular was passed creating an ID card for foreigners.129 These two laws remained unchanged for almost thirty years. As discussed above, President Houphouët-Boigny imposed his own vision for his country’s migration and integration policies through informal practices, rather than strict compliance with the nationality laws and implementing regulations. In particular, Côte d’Ivoire’s identification program, marked by the liberal distribution of Ivorian documents, was an important instrument in implementing his welcoming, melting-pot vision of the country. The first changes to the identification laws came in 1990 with the introduction of a resident permit scheme for foreigners. The period 1998-2007 saw a series of legal amendments related to the identification of Ivorian nationals and foreigners. None of these measures were fully implemented in practice. Rather, highly informal and arbitrary personal identification documents were issued and carried during this time. Nevertheless, the legislative changes adopted in this period with respect to foreigners underscored how hostile the political environment was and how the successive regimes – from Bédié to Guéï to Gbagbo – instrumentalized the identification system as a tool of their restrictive nationality policies. An overview of the evolution of legislative developments on identification is provided in Annex III. 4.2.1. Compromises on identification in the crisis-recovery process 2007-2010 Practical breakthroughs overcoming the stalemate in Côte d’Ivoire’s identification system finally came with the signing of the APO in March 2007, which observed the following on identification: The signatory parties to the present Agreement have recognized that the identification of the Ivorian and foreign populations living in Côte d’Ivoire constitutes a major preoccupation. The absence of a clear and coherent identification system, as well as the absence of uniform administrative documents attesting to the identity and nationality of individuals, constitutes a source of conflict. The signatories to the APO therefore agreed to a timeline for undertaking a series of measures that would have a concrete and practical impact on the civil status and identification 127 Programme de Modernisation de l’Etat Civil en Côte d’Ivoire (MECCI). This project received financial support from international donors including the World Bank, the United Nations system, and the European Union in the crisis-recovery period prior to the 2010 elections. The program has been somewhat revived since 2013 through small-scale pilot projects funded in part by international donors such as the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund. 128 Loi No. 62-64 du 20 février 1962 portant institution de la Carte Nationale d’Identité. 129 Circulaire No. 1138 du 13 juin 1962, as discussed in Office Nationale d’Identification (Côte d’Ivoire), Historique. 38