A recent research conducted by the Centre for Human Rights and Research (Sri Lanka), has revealed that over 500,000 Sri Lankans do not possess a National Identity Card (NIC).
This revelation was made by the Acting Executive Director of the Centre, Surangi Ariyawanse at a workshop held in Colombo last week.
She also highlighted that about 100,000 of the above, do not submit their NICs when it is needed, intending to hide their identity.
The rest do not possess NICs due to different reasons such as inability to provide documents, not having a permanent address and loss of NICs. It was also revealed that 87 percent of those who do not posses a NIC live in tea estates and rural areas.
The Department of Registration of Persons has commenced a program to issue NICs by accepting a fewer number of documents. However, the research points out that interest in the program has been lacklustre.
“Most of those who seek help from mobile services want either to renew their NICs or obtain a new one. People who do not have a NIC rarely visit these mobile services”, she added.
Considering these facts, the Centre for Human Rights and Research (Sri Lanka) plans to launch a program to encourage people to obtain NICs.