The Ministry of Interior has denied issuing any circular that would grant it the authority to handle citizen registration in civil status records instead of the judiciary, emphasizing that these claims are unfounded.
This response came in a written reply from Interior Minister Abdel-Wafi Laftit to a parliamentary question posed by MP Adel Sebai about the difficulties faced by individuals without identity in registering in civil status.
Laftit clarified that Article 21 of Law No. 36.21, related to civil status and issued on July 14, 2021, states that any incident not recorded within the legal timeframe can only be registered with permission from the central authority or someone authorized by it.
He added that Article 58 of the same law linked the enforcement of its provisions to the repeal of the previous Law No. 37.99, provided that respect is maintained for what is stated in Article 59. This article stipulates the cessation of manual systems and paper records through decisions issued by the central authority in offices where the digital system has been adopted.
In this context, Laftit pointed out that Article 47 of Implementing Decree No. 2.22.04 supports this direction, stating that the decree will gradually come into effect according to the provisions of Article 59.
The minister stressed that all procedures related to issuing declarative judgments remain in effect, including the roles of the public prosecution and the judiciary, until the official cessation of paper records in accordance with the law.
On another note, the Interior Minister highlighted the ministry’s efforts to promote civil registration, recalling the national campaign launched in 2008, which resulted in the registration of over 218,000 individuals.
He also noted that the ministry played an active role in the national campaign to register unregistered children, initiated by a government decree in 2017, which included two phases, the latter of which covered other unregistered individuals, enabling the regularization of a significant number of citizens’ statuses.
Laftit confirmed that many cases of non-registration are due to neglect or ignorance of administrative procedures, adding that the ministry continues its efforts to overcome these issues and ensure access for everyone to civil status services.
