Ministerial statement on the Barbados National Identity Programme by Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology, Marsha Caddle in the House of Assembly on Tuesday, January 30, 2024.
Mr. Speaker, the role of identity in active citizenship is changing. Decades ago, countries that offered national identity documents did so with a simple paper document or card carrying basic identifying information.
Those that bore photos allowed only a simple visual recognition process by the authorities: the bearer of the ID presented it to another party, who relied on a very rudimentary scan to see whether the document looked legitimate (it bore the general colour and dimensions of the State-issued document), and whether the photo it carried looked generally like the individual there present. Both this process and the associated documents could offer little security or reliability, and certainly no further functionality for either the individual or the institution.
Simple, paper ID cards such as that previously in use in Barbados were in theory and in practice highly susceptible to manipulation and forgery. Any sufficiently motivated individual with a laminator could reproduce such a card, leading to prior cases of identity theft long before this risk had become as ubiquitous and sophisticated as it now is in the online environment.
For us in Barbados, the notion of identity is also inalienably linked to rights and access to goods and services. National identity cards have been in use in Barbados since the year 1979. Article III of the 2021 Charter of Barbados affirms the right and duty of every Barbadian “to participate in the economic, political and social life of Barbados as an expression of active citizenship…to vote and seek public office in accordance with the Laws of this country.” The process in which national identity cards are issued also serves as a national registration process under the Representation of the People Act for the purpose of participation in elections.
Mr. Speaker, for Barbadians, the issue of national identity and the means of identification are bound up in who we are, how we participate in all expressions of democracy, how we enjoy our rights and exercise our responsibilities, and how we participate in social and economic life and secure our well-being.
To read the full statement, you may click here.