1. Tamatoa Jonassen Secretary of Ministry of Justice (Registrar- General)
Pacific Regional Workshop on Legal Identity and Identity Security 8-10th July 2019
COOK ISLANDS
Tamatoa Jonassen Secretary of Ministry of Justice (Registrar- General)

2. Presentation Outline Brief Background: Cook Islands Context
Status of the civil registration system
Role of the health sector in supporting civil registration
Role of ICT in record capture, storage and archival
Use of civil registration data to confirm/ validate legal identity
Plans for establishment of national ID system

3. Brief Background: Cook Islands Context
15 islands. Northern group; Southern group.
75% of population live on Rarotonga.

4. Brief Background: Cook Islands Context
2016 Census
Resident Population
14,082
Population on Rarotonga
75%
Residents born outside Cook Is.
29%
Population < 15 yrs and > 59 yrs.
42%
2013 NZ Census
Cook Islanders in NZ*
61,839
Cook Islanders in NZ who are born in NZ**
77.4%
* % of "Pacific peoples population" in NZ.
** 181,791 people identified with at least one Pacific ethnicity.
Resident Population of 14,082, and total population of 17,434 (2016 Census)
29% of residents born outside the Cook Islands
75% of total population reside on Rarotonga
27% of resident population is younger than 15 years old.
15% of resident population is older than 59 years old.
58% of resident population is aged
Tourism accounts for 60% of GDP.
2016 Australia Census
Cook Islanders in Australia
22,228
Growth from 2006
95.0%

5. Brief Background: Cook Islands Context
Land Ownership System – encourages births/deaths registration.
Land succession – require birth/death certificates.
Birth in the Cook Islands:
New Born Allowance (NZD $1,000): Born in Cook Is. to national(s) or PR(s).
Child Benefit ($100/month).
Passports required for travel outside Cook Islands (require birth certificate). No Cook Islands Passport.

6. Overview: Status of the civil registration system:
Note: Census does not capture births/deaths.
Estimated birth registration completeness for the most recent years
(Actual Registration/Estimate Live Births)*100 =
2016: (252/242)*100 = 104%
2017: (230/222)*100 = 104%
2018: (254/232)*100 = 109%
2016:
Resident Population: 14,082
Total Population: 17,434
Year Total Arrivals Total Departures Visitor Arrivals Visitor Departures Resident Arrivals Resident Departures
, , , , , ,917

7. Overview: Status of the civil registration system:
Note: Census does not capture births/deaths.
Estimated death registration completeness for the most recent year
(Actual Registration/Estimate Deaths)*100 =
2016: (105/87)*100 = 121%
2017: (104/93)*100 = 118%
2018: (147/121)*100 = 121%

8. Role of the health sector in supporting civil registration functions
Does the Ministry/department of health support civil registration functions in your country? If so, please share your experience on how.
Ministry of Health sends Notice of Birth/Death to Ministry of Justice.
Most births occur at the Rarotonga hospital. Births outside a hospital are brought to the hospital for medick checks soon after birth.
Medical practitioners certify all natural deaths and coroners (administration of the Coroners Act is supported by the Ministry of Justice) report on unnatural deaths. Funeral directors on behalf of the family can facilitate registration and processing of death certificates.

9. Record capture, storage and Archival
Does your country operate a manual or electronic system of data capture and storage for civil registration functions? Both (manual system, augmented by electronic database)
If electronic:
Provide name of IT system in use: Microsoft Access
Are individual birth records linked to death records? (i.e. is the system person-based or event based?) No (event based)
Do you use a unique identification number/code for civil registration records
If yes, how is it generated, what is the structure of the number/code?
Births/Deaths = 4 letters (island) + 4 digit year + 4 digit sequence.
Is the code used by other government departments, if yes, which ones? Not used.

10. Use of civil registration data to confirm/ validate legal identity
Do you share birth and death data collected through civil registration to other government departments ? Yes
If so which government departments do you most regularly share data with?
Ministry of Internal Affairs (child benefit & pension purposes)
RMD Tax authority (tax purposes)
Ministry of Finance and Economic Management – Statistics Office
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration
Is the data shared electronically or manually ? By
Is data sharing regulated by legislation or any policy instrument?
No explicit “data sharing” legislation.
Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs).
Official Information Act 2008
Please share any challenges/ relevant experiences surrounding the sharing of such data
Would be easier if central database with unique ID number.
Example: Same person came to court under two different names (both charges came from Police)

11. Status and plans for implementation of a national ID system
Please share your country’s status and plans for implementation of a national ID system
Does your country have or are there plans for implementation of a national ID system? No published plans. There are discussions at high government level.
Which Ministry is leading its implementation? ICT has central role.
Is the national ID system linked to the civil registration system (do birth and death records from civil registration flow into the national ID system)? N/A
Please share any relevant experiences/challenges associated with this theme
Example: Succession to land based on name (not unique ID) in genealogy tree where ancestor has aliases.
Challenge: Seen as “Big Brother” if link databases.

12. Recent developments and/or plans
Please share any of your recent developments or short-term plans towards the development of your CRVS systems
Beginning stages of:
Exploring scope of National ID system.
Exploring IT solutions to facilitate online birth/death/marriage certificates.