Identity Week Europe: Establishing government frameworks for national identity systems

by Evie Kim Sing | Jun 9, 2023 | Events, Security Document World

One of our thought-led panel sessions will be exploring accessibility, retention and safety for physical national ID systems.

How are national identity systems led by governments governed with suitable frameworks and how does this translate to efficient delivery of physical identity documents for all?

First delving into the policy perspective, Emrys Schoemaker, Senior Research Director at Caribou Digital and advisor on "every day digital transformation", will share the efforts they are currently invested in to establish frameworks for governments’ public and digital infrastructure, covering privacy aspects and inclusion.

This will lead into a discussion on how ID initiatives operate "on ground level" with the delivery of ID for all citizens and current focuses on incorporating asylum seekers and refugees into national government ID programmes.

A key question will be: What are the top elements that should be considered when building a governance framework for governments building national ID systems?

With the U.S. not having a national ID card, the question will be asked if individual states govern their own ID systems, legislation or if an interoperable legislation connects states. Carolyn Bayer-Broring who will be speaking on behalf of the U.S. approach to physical ID is a senior forensic document examiner at the U.S DHS Homeland Security Investigations Forensic Lab.

Ronald Belser, Research & development adviser, Ministry of Justice and Security, Netherlands will explain how the Immigra­tion and Naturalisation service is working on providing identity documents for asylum seekers and refugees and gaining their trust from governments.

The panel session will tap into ensuring accessibility to national identity with the ease of application and outreach to citizens and creating an interoperable framework with cross-border capability, especially in nations without a national identity system.

The Netherlands and the U.S. are similarly fighting against fraud in physical identity documents with false information and photographs being provided during the onboarding process to obtain passport documents. Combating fraud in national identity systems is an important aspect while enabling citizens to have an identity without much friction.

Additionally, what would the benefits be of employing a federated system or a decentralised system for identity on the national level?