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Voter Identification Requirements and Public International Law: an Examination of Africa and Latin America

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Voter Identification Requirements and Public International Law: an Examination of Africa and Latin America Voter Identification Requirements and Public International Law: An Examination of Africa and Latin America One Copenhill 453 Freedom Parkway Atlanta, GA 30307 404-420-5188 Fax 404-420-5196 www.cartercenter.org 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................... 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................... 8 Voter Identification Practices in Africa and Latin America .................................................................... 9 Africa .................................................................................................................................................... 9 Latin America ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Overall Conclusions ................................................................................................................................ 10 INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS FOR SUFFRAGE ......................................................................................... 13 OVERVIEW OF AFRICA ......................................................................................................................... 15 Preliminary Analysis of African Identification Laws ............................................................................. 16 Recognizing Reality: Flexible Identification Laws ............................................................................ 16 Countries that Require a Single Document to Prove Identity.......................................................... 17 Countries with Vague or No Laws Specifically on Identification ..................................................... 18 Other Logistical and Implementation Problems ............................................................................... 19 No One System Fits All—but Almost all Systems Lack Implementation Capacity ........................ 20 OVERVIEW OF LATIN AMERICA ............................................................................................................. 23 Preliminary Analysis of Latin America ................................................................................................... 23 Problems with the National ID System in Latin America ......................................................................24 The Undocumented............................................................................................................................24 Lack of Capacity ................................................................................................................................. 26 Political manipulation ........................................................................................................................ 26 Countries that are Succeeding and Countries that are Improving ...................................................... 27 COUNTRIES WHERE THE ID SYSTEM WORKS EFFECTIVELY ............................................................ 27 A COUNTRY IMPROVING .................................................................................................................. 28 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS: AFRICA AND LATIN AMERICA ......................................................................... 29 Similarities .............................................................................................................................................. 29 2 Undocumented Persons ................................................................................................................... 29 Lack of Capacity ................................................................................................................................. 30 Political Manipulation ........................................................................................................................ 30 Costs ................................................................................................................................................... 30 Movement to Biometrics .................................................................................................................. 30 Differences .............................................................................................................................................. 31 VOTER IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC LAW .............................................. 33 Reasonable and Objective Criteria ........................................................................................................ 33 Obstacles ............................................................................................................................................... 34 Discrimination ........................................................................................................................................ 34 Interference ............................................................................................................................................ 35 Internally Displaced Persons .................................................................................................................. 35 Active State Promotion and Engagement ............................................................................................ 35 FUTURE RESEARCH AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................37 TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................. 38 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................................. 40 APPENDIX A: AFRICA CASE STUDIES ..................................................................................................... 41 Cameroon............................................................................................................................................ 41 Kenya ...................................................................................................................................................42 Malawi ................................................................................................................................................ 43 Liberia ................................................................................................................................................. 44 Ghana ................................................................................................................................................. 45 Democratic Republic of Congo ......................................................................................................... 46 Algeria ................................................................................................................................................ 48 Uganda ............................................................................................................................................... 49 APPENDIX B: LATIN AMERICA CASE STUDIES ...................................................................................... 51 3 Guatemala ........................................................................................................................................... 51 Colombia ............................................................................................................................................. 53 Nicaragua ............................................................................................................................................ 53 Panama................................................................................................................................................ 55 Venezuela ........................................................................................................................................... 56 Peru ..................................................................................................................................................... 57 Bolivia ................................................................................................................................................. 60 APPENDIX C: SUPPLEMENTARY VOTER IDENTIFICATION FOR AFRICA .............................................. 61 Benin ................................................................................................................................................... 61 Botswana ............................................................................................................................................ 61 Burkina Faso....................................................................................................................................... 62 Chad.................................................................................................................................................... 62 Cote d’Ivoire ...................................................................................................................................... 62 Eritrea ................................................................................................................................................. 63 Ethiopia .............................................................................................................................................
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