According to the decree on national identification, adopted on 1 June 2005 by the government of Haiti, the national identification card (carte d'identification nationale, CIN) will include the following information:
- Name
- Married name of a married woman
- First name(s)
- Date of birth
- Gender
- Place of birth
- Marital status
- National identification number
It will contain a digitized photograph, the digital fingerprints and the signature of the person concerned. (Haiti 1 June 2005, art. 4)
National identification number
In a 9 September 2010 telephone interview with the Research Directorate, a representative of the National Identification Office (Office national d'identification, ONI), the organization responsible for issuing the CIN in Haiti (Haiti n.d.; Le Nouvelliste 27 Feb. 2007), provided the following explanation with respect to the meaning of the digits in the national identification number appearing on the CIN: from left to right, the first two digits are the department code; the following two digits refer to the city; the next two refer to the country; the next four and the next two indicate, respectively, the year and the month of birth; finally, the last digits represent the entry number in the national identification registry (registre national d'identification) (Haiti 9 Sept. 2010). The public administration of Haiti uses digits as codes to refer to departments, cities, communes and countries (ibid.). For instance, regarding departments, code 01 refers to the Ouest department and 07 to the Sud deparment (ibid.). As for countries, code 99, which appears on the CIN, refers to the Republic of Haiti, while code 00 refers to the Dominican Republic (ibid.).
No other sources providing information on the meaning of the digits in the national identification number were found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of sources consulted in researching this Information Request.
References
Haiti. 9 September 2010. Office national d'identification (ONI). Telephone interview with a representative.
____. 1 June 2005. Décret relatif à la carte d'identification nationale. <http://www.oni.gouv.ht/down2.php> [Accessed 13 Sept. 2010]
____. N.d. "ONI." <http:www.oni.gouv.ht/index.html> [Accessed 9 Sept. 2010]
Le Nouvelliste [Port-au-Prince]. 27 February 2007. "L'émission des cartes d'identification confiée désormais à l'ONI." <http://www.lenouvelliste.com/article.php?PubID=1&ArticleID=40486> [Accessed 13 Sept. 2010]
Additional Sources Consulted
Oral sources: Attempts to contact the Direction générale des impôts (DGI) and the offices of the National Archives in Port-au-Prince were unsuccessful.
Internet sites, including: Afrik.com, AllAfrica.com, Education Internationale (EI), InfoSud Belgique (InfoSud), Keesing Reference Systems, Office of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Migrants outre-mer (MOM), Minority Rights Group International (MRG), Organisation internationale de la francophonie (OIF), Panapress (PANA), Radio France internationale (RFI), Réseau des médias francophones (MEDIAF), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), UN Development Programme (UNDP), United States-Bureau of Consular Affairs.