‘I know you like the back of my hand’: biometric practices of humanitarian organisations in international aid

Abstract

Humanitarian organizations are increasingly utilizing biometric data. However, we know little about the extent and scope of this practice, as its benefits and risks have attracted all the attention so far. This paper explores the biometric practices of the UN Refugee Agency, the United Nations World Food Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, and World Vision International. The paper analyzed relevant documents published over the past two decades and 17 semi‐structured interviews with humanitarian workers conducted between June 2021 and June 2022. The findings display that humanitarian organizations use diverse types and functions of biometric data for different services, collaborate with many actors, and use various data protection measures. Ultimately, challenging the straightforward generalizations about the use of such data, the paper argues that variational applications of biometrics in the humanitarian context require case‐by‐case analysis, as each use case will likely produce a different outcome.

Assessment of General Health Status Among Refugee Women in Greater Cairo

“…Egypt is a low-middle-income country and its economy depends on agriculture, tourism, petroleum, gas, the Suez Canal and remittances from Egyptians working abroad (5) Egypt has borders with Libya, Sudan and Palestine. Deserts constitute the vast majority of Egypt's land (6) Previously and for a long time Egypt was considered to be a transit or crossing country, but recently many considered it a final destination (7,8) By October 2022, 288,173 refugees and asylum-seekers from 60 different nationalities were registered with UNHCR. Half of them are Syrian; the others are mainly from Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen and Somalia (8,9 and 10) The medical services at many public clinics are available free of charge and the refugees can access them without legal papers (7,11) Rationale: Assessing the general health status of refugee women in Egypt is an important issue and the need for these studies has increased with the doubling of the number of refugees and the expectations of continuous increase during the coming periods.…”

Unique data, different values: Explaining variation in the use of biometrics by international humanitarian organizations

“…However, it does not seem to set a precedent for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the World Food Programme (WFP), as they still use central databases. Indeed, humanitarian organizations (HOs) differ not only in data storage but also in biometric modalities, systems, functions, data sharing, data protection, and services in which such data are used (Açıkyıldız, 2023). For example, WFP frequently uses one‐to‐one (1:1) matching of its beneficiaries at aid distribution points, while it is a secondary use‐case for UNHCR, which prioritizes on one‐to‐many (1:N) matching during registration 1 .…”

“…For example, WFP frequently uses one‐to‐one (1:1) matching of its beneficiaries at aid distribution points, while it is a secondary use‐case for UNHCR, which prioritizes on one‐to‐many (1:N) matching during registration 1 . UNHCR and WFP collect photos, irises, and fingerprints, but the ICRC also captures DNA (Açıkyıldız, 2023). Moreover, UNHCR and WFP keep biometric data longer than their counterparts, and they share data with more actors, including government entities (Açıkyıldız, 2023).…”

“…UNHCR and WFP collect photos, irises, and fingerprints, but the ICRC also captures DNA (Açıkyıldız, 2023). Moreover, UNHCR and WFP keep biometric data longer than their counterparts, and they share data with more actors, including government entities (Açıkyıldız, 2023). World Vision International (WVI) has no view on biometrics and uses it ad hoc.…”