“And as the UNHCR has previously outlined, the biometric ID cards themselves can help refugees to access critical services, and can be used for resettlement and potential repatriation.” Well over a quarter million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh have now been registered for biometric ID cards, the United Nations’ refugee agency has announced. It’s the latest…
The United Nations’ refugee agency has been vocal about the benefits of biometric identification for those in its charge for years, but recently the organization invoked this technology in its own defense. The UNHCR was responding to an extensive investigative report from NBC alleging widespread corruption at the refugee agency. Usually this involves bribery in…
The Unique Identification Authority of India once again finds itself in the position of having to explain away a purported breach of its Aadhaar biometric national ID database. This time, the issue concerns IT Grid (India), a private IT firm, which allegedly got ahold of Aadhaar data concerning 78 million citizens in the Telangana and…
Officials with the United Nations refugee agency continue to promote the benefits of biometric registration as they call for continuing attention to Bangladesh’s Rohingya muslim refugees. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar since genocidal attacks against their people began in 2017, making them one of the world’s biggest refugee populations.…
After a high-level tour of refugee centers in Bangladesh, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is more convinced than ever of the importance of biometric IDs for helping displaced people. The visit was conducted by Volker Türk, the Assistant High Commissioner for Protection at the United Nations’ refugee agency, who visited Bangladesh to assess…
“Even if government authorities can’t make Aadhaar authentication mandatory, they can still accept it from citizens who prefer to use it.” Just a few months after a Supreme Court ruling laid out restrictions to how India’s national biometric ID program can be used, the national government has amended legislation governing the Aadhaar program to make…
“The situation is only the latest illustration of the haphazard character of Aadhaar’s rapid evolution over the last few years, with government agencies and businesses applying the ID program in something of a regulatory and legal fog.” The Indian Supreme Court’s decision to restrict the use of Aadhaar, India’s biometric national ID program, to government…
“As far back as February of this year, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which administrates Aadhaar, issued a statement reminding government officials that they must provide services to citizens even when Aadhaar authentication fails…” India’s biometric national ID program has delivered some tremendous benefits to the country, but it has also led to…
“This ruling comes a little over a year after the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer that privacy is a fundamental right of Indian citizens…” India’s Supreme Court has issued a new ruling that seeks to limit the reach of Aadhaar, the country’s ambitious biometric national ID program. According to a new Reuters report, the ruling…
The Unique Identification Authority of India is once again recalibrating its efforts to promote Aadhaar, the country’s biometric national ID program, with the announcement that it will offer Rs 2B, or about $27,668,000, in assistance to school districts for the enrollment of students. It’s a response to confusion among school administrators that was arguably the…
“Responding to the report today, the UIDAI issued a statement in which it reaffirmed that each Aadhaar identity is linked to 10 unique fingerprints and a pair of irises, and that these biometrics are checked against the entire Aadhaar database for duplicate entries, so it is therefore ‘not possible’ to create fraudulent entries in the…
“The key is to think about it like a credit card number, the agency says; you share this with merchants all the time, but you wouldn’t post it online for everyone to see.” The Unique Identification Authority of India is once again seeking to clarify how its Aadhaar biometric ID program works to the larger…
“…Yoti said the partnership would ultimately mean that Scottish residents could use its biometric app to verify their identities to businesses, to prove they are of age to buy restricted goods, to access government services, to confirm their identities online, and to access websites without the need for a password. “ The Scottish Government has…
Axis Bank is staking a claim to being the first financial services institution in India to implement iris-based Aadhaar authentication on a ‘micro ATM’, a term for portable terminals used to enable account access. Axis Bank has embedded iris recognition technology into a tablet device to enable to the functionality as part of its efforts…
Government authorities in the Philippines are proceeding in their effort to establish a national biometric ID program, with plans to begin issuance in Metro Manila and the Calabarzon region by the year’s end. Announcing the developments in a CNN Philippines interview, Davao City Representative Karlo Nograles referred to these municipal zones as “pilot areas” for…
Veridos has won a 12-year, €340 million contract to provide the Bangladeshi government with next-generation passport and border control solutions, the company has announced. The contract was awarded to the company by the country’s Ministry of Home Affairs. The project will revolve around the development and issuance of ePassports, with the enrollment and data management processes…
Almost every Indian adult is now enrolled in Aadhaar, India’s national biometric ID database, according to a new report from The Economic Times. It’s a matter of some speculation, but the numbers add up. The central government says that a little over 1.2 billion people have been enrolled in the program; meanwhile, authorities also project…
The Somali government is aiming to build a biometric national ID program, and is looking to Pakistan and the World Bank for help. Dubbed the Somali National Identity Program, it’s actually envisioned as a program similar to Aadhaar, the biometric national ID program used by Pakistan’s arch-rival India. The program would enable citizens to access…
The Lagos government is preparing to use biometric identification for its pension payments. The bluntly titled “I’M Alive” initiative is intended to prevent disbursement issues related to double-payments and fraud. The civil Service Pensions Office is now seeking to register all pensioners’ fingerprint biometric data through 16 facilities scattered throughout the state. Eligible citizens need…