Digitalising the Right to an Identity: Assessing the Efficacy of Community-Based Tech-Intermediaries in Executing Civil Status Reforms for Child Protection in Cameroon’s Conflict-Affected Regions

Legal identity is a fundamental human right that enables children to access education, healthcare, social protection, and other essential services. However, conflict has significantly disrupted civil registration systems in Cameroon’s Northwest and Southwest Regions, leaving many children without legal recognition. This article examines the role of community-based technology intermediaries in supporting digital civil registration reforms and advancing child protection in these conflict-affected areas. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, combining doctrinal legal analysis with qualitative interviews and documentary review. It evaluates Cameroon’s legal framework, including Law No. 2024/016 of 23 December 2024, Organising the Civil Registration System in Cameroon, alongside international and regional human rights instruments governing the right to legal identity. The findings reveal that community-based technology intermediaries play a critical role in facilitating digital birth registration, improving access to legal identity, and strengthening institutional resilience where conventional administrative systems have been disrupted. However, challenges such as digital exclusion, weak infrastructure, data privacy concerns, cybersecurity risks, and limited regulatory oversight continue to hinder effective implementation. The article contributes to existing scholarship by conceptualising community-based technology intermediaries as rights-enabling governance actors and proposing a Human-Centred Community Digital Identity Governance Model (HCDIGM) to strengthen digital civil registration. It concludes that achieving universal legal identity requires not only legislative reform and technological innovation but also inclusive, rights-based governance that prioritises children’s best interests and institutional accountability.

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