The National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (Registro Nacional de Identificación y Estado Civil, RENIEC) is an autonomous constitutional body of the State of Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

. Its role is to maintain the records of births, marriages, divorces and deaths in the country, as well as of the suffrage eligibility and registration. Its headquarters are in downtown Lima.

History

While RENIEC is a recently created entity, its roots can be traced to the Viceroyalty of Peru

Viceroyalty of Peru

Created in 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of Lima...

, in which the Catholic Church kept records of all people born within the territory. With the Independence of the country, the Registry System was created, which depended on what today is the National Jury of Elections

National Jury of Elections (Peru)

The National Jury of Elections of Peru is an autonomous constitutional organism, headquartered in Lima. Its goal is to oversee the legality of electoral processes, guaranteeing the respect for the population's will...

.

Following the self-coup

Self-coup

A self-coup or autocoup is a form of coup d'état that occurs when a country's leader, who has come to power through legal means, dissolves or renders powerless the national legislature and assumes extraordinary powers not granted under normal circumstances. Other measures taken may include...

 by Alberto Fujimori

Alberto Fujimori

Alberto Fujimori Fujimori served as President of Peru from 28 July 1990 to 17 November 2000. A controversial figure, Fujimori has been credited with the creation of Fujimorism, uprooting terrorism in Peru and restoring its macroeconomic stability, though his methods have drawn charges of...

, the new Constitution of 1993 created the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status, to complement the National Jury of Elections and the National Office of Electoral Processes

National Office of Electoral Processes

The National Office of Electoral Processes is the body in charge of organizing elections in Peru. Created in 1993, during the government of Alberto Fujimori, it is headquartered in the Jesús María District in Lima...

.

Functions

1. Planning, organizing, directing, regulating and rationalizing the registrations of its competence;
2. Registering the births, marriages, divorces, defunctions and other acts that modify the civil status of people, as well as juridical or administrative resolutions that are susceptible to registration, and all other acts as determined by the law;
3. Emitting the corroborations of the corresponding registrations;
4. Preparing and updating the roster of eligible voters in coordination with the National Office of Electoral Processes;
5. Supplying the National Jury of Elections and the National Office of Electoral Processes with the necessary information for the fulfillment of their functions;
6. Emitting the National Identity Document (DNI) and duplicates;
7. Promoting the training of qualified personnel required by the institution, as well as the Civil Registrants and other personnel of the Registries in the system;
8. Collaborating with the pertinent police, judiciary and consular authorities for the identification of people;
9. Protecting the unrestricted respect for the right to privacy and identity and all other rights of a person as derived from the registration;
10. Implementing, organizing, maintaining and supervising the unctioning of the dactiloscopic and pelmatoscopic registries;
11. Verifying the authenticity of signatures of adherents for processes as determined by the law, as well as for the exercise of political rights granted by the Constitution and the law; and
12. Any other functions assigned by the law.

Organization

1. National Chief
2. National Sub-Chief
3. General Secretariat
4. Management
5. Sub-Management
6. Regionales Chiefs
7. Departmental Chiefs

Mission

1. Registration of births, marriages, divorces, defunctions and other events modifying the civil status.
2. Preparing and updating the roster of eligible voters (people over 18 years old).
3. Provide the other electoral authorities any information needed for their functions.
4. Updating the identification registry and emitting documents accrediting identity.

Technology

RENIEC claims to be technologically most advanced than its counterparts in Latin America

Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

 and than most in the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

, in identification and civil status registraton. A Peruvian consulate abroad, using special codes, can immediately identify a Peruvian citizen by several features available to them.