National Consultant

Duty Station of the Consultancy: Beirut, Lebanon

Duration of Consultancy: 3 months

Nature of the consultancy: Drafting of a comprehensive Legal Assessment of the laws, regulations, government issued decrees concerning identity management, biometrics collection and use, personal data protection framework, digital identity governance in Lebanon, which should feed into the Technical Assessment of the Identity Management Structure commissioned by IOM.   

Category Consultancy: Category B   Project Context and Scope

IOM is committed to ensuring universal access to legal identity, in line with Objective 4 of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and Target 16.9 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Legal identity is embedded throughout IOM's work with the aim of ensuring secure, recognized and accessible documentation for all, regardless of migration status, while upholding human rights and data protection principles. 

IOM provides strategic direction and expertise to assist Member States in promoting legal identity for all, fostering inclusive identity management systems and ensuring equitable access to documentation. This includes supporting Member States in enhancing legal identity processes, notably in relation to civil registration, consular support and identity management systems, including travel document issuance and verification.

This assignment will also support the planning of the pilot program aimed at modernizing and streamlining biometric processes within the national ID management systems in Lebanon.

Objectives

Within the scope of its CAPACITY programme that is funded by the Government of Denmark, IOM will conduct a comprehensive legal assessment of Identity management framework in Lebanon. It will include human rights, areas of attention for compliance with the international standards, personal data protection and privacy of all, including migrants, refugees, stateless individuals and Lebanese citizens in Lebanon and abroad.

The consultant will carry out a study that will aim to analyse the legal frameworks, institutional settings and structures and operational mechanisms related to access to identity, renewal of identity documents in Lebanon and for Lebanese diaspora abroad, interlinkages with the entire legal identity ecosystem including civil registration , vital statistics, identity management, immigration, and frameworks under which the consular affairs functions for issuance of breeder, identity and travel documents, and identify possible gaps and the needs for reinforcement or harmonization and interoperability.

By utilizing IOM Legal Identity System Maturity Assessment Methodology, it will include recommendations to ensure Lebanon  has the legal ground, policies and procedures in place for a mature legal identity system and digital identity framework in Lebanon, and follows relevant international frameworks including relevant international conventions, as well as standards defined in the UN Guidelines on Legislative Framework for Civil Registration, Vital Statistics and Identity Management (CRVS-IDM), the UN Principles and Recommendations for Vital Statistics System, UN Strategy for Legal Identity for All, the UN Principles on Personal Data Protection and Privacy and international data protection standards and the rights of individuals under international human rights and refugee law. 

The legal assessment methodology shall be designed in way its results feed into the technical assessment that will be commissioned by IOM under the CAPACITY programme. The findings of the legal assessment will be used by IOM to define the road map for policy development as well as design capacity development activities aiming to strengthen Lebanese authorities' knowledge and expertise on identity management systems, civil registry and vital statistics, access to identity including renewal and/or issuance of identity documents for all, digital identity and consular services. Lastly, together with the technical assessment, it will inform the design of a pilot programme to modernize and streamline biometrics in the national ID management systems.

Organizational Department / Unit to which the Consultant is contributing
Immigration and Border Governance Department / Legal Identity Unit

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