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…
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…
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has repeatedly called for the adoption of biometric platforms that make it easier to manage refugee populations. Now, Distilled Identity and Emerge have forged a partnership to fulfill that request. The two companies have announced Homeward, a new platform that uses biometric data to create a self-sovereign…
“Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency is deploying automated biometric identification systems to camps housing the displaced individuals, with officials currently training government staff.” With heavy rains having caused serious flooding across rural areas in Nigeria earlier this year, the country’s government is looking to biometric technology to help identify displaced persons. According to a government…
“…WISeKey emphasized its compliance with the United Nations’ ID2020 program, an initiative aimed at extending official identity systems to everyone in the world, with an estimated 1.3 billion people currently thought to be undocumented, a status that can seriously hinder the ability to access vital government services.” Geneva-based WISeKey has announced a new “Universal Decentralized…
The Calgary Drop-In Centre, or “DI”, is poised to become the first homeless shelter in Canada to introduce facial recognition technology to identify the people it serves. In announcing its plans to implement the system on its blog, the DI framed the effort as one that can help it to improve its service, allowing it…
The UNHCR’s use of biometric identification for refugees is helping the organization to make the case for additional funding for displaced Syrians. The United Nations’ refugee agency is pressing the case for funding ahead of a deadline this month that will see cash assistance for Syrian refugees run out. Some 5.6 million people have been…
Biometric ID cards and new legislation are now helping refugees in Ecuador to rebuild their lives. The legislation has provided the catalyst: Essentially, it grants residents of Ecuador in possession of refugee cards the same rights as the country’s national ID cards. That means refugees who present their IDs when applying for a job or…
Uganda has become the latest country to launch a biometric refugee identification program in collaboration with the UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency. With additional assistance from the World Food Programme, government authorities will use fingerprint readers and iris scanners to scan the country’s 1.4 million refugees, many of whom have recently arrived from the…
The UN’s refugee agency will continue to register the biometrics of Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria, the organization says. In an update concerning a recent visit of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representative Antonio Jose Canhandula to border regions in Nigeria, the organization says that Canhandula spoke with local authorities to determine how Cameroonian refugees…
While the United Nations and partner nations are increasingly recognizing the advantages of biometric registration for refugees, a group of displaced people in the Democratic Republic of Congo are refusing to comply with such efforts in a region on the border with Burundi. As The Citizen reports, the group, which numbers a little over 2,000,…
A new biometric registration system for refugees is rolling out across Ethiopia. The Biometric Identity Management System is the product of a partnership between the UNHCR – the United Nations’ refugee agency – and Ethiopia’s Refugee and Returnee Affairs department. It collects the fingerprint and iris data of all registrants, as well as biographic information…
The United Nations’ refugee agency has just completed the first phase of a family counting initiative at a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, with a major assist from biometric technology. The majority of the Rohingya Muslims have fled from neighboring Myanmar, where they have faced what many are calling a genocide that has intensified over…
The growing importance of biometric technology to the UN’s refugee agency was increasingly prominent at last week’s 68th Executive Committee Meeting of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Commenting on Botswana’s work to implement the UNHCR’s Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework, that country’s delegate noted that the Botswana government has issued almost a thousand biometric…
All over the world national governments are turning to biometrics for civil ID. Successful large scale implementations of biometrics-based national ID are emboldening countries – from the Philippines to France – to register their citizens for reasons as far ranging as naked payments and financial inclusion, to digital democracy and national security. This week, for…
Authorities in Malaysia are urging the United Nations’ refugee agency to share its data on refugees in the country. As Channel News Asia reports, Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan framed the issue as a security concern pertaining to the Islamic State, with authorities worried that militants have slipped into the country through the UNHCR’s refugee…
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) continues to promote biometric solutions for the management of refugee populations with UNHCR head Filippo Grandi’s recent visit to a refugee camp in Bangladesh. Bangladeshi authorities are working to help Rohingya Muslims who have fled nearby Myanmar, where they have faced persecution. Reporting on his meeting with…
It’s World Refugee Day, a time to bring focused attention to a complex issue that is increasingly in the news. According to the UNHCR, the UN agency most directly concerned with refugee issues, one in every 113 people in the world are refugees from war or political violence, with an estimated total of 65 million…