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Biometric identifiers for refugees
Refugees, economic migrants have the nationality of any country (10 million in 2015).
and illegal aliens Refugees and asylum seekers are legally defined by
The term ‘refugee’ refers to “people who have had to national legislations, in accordance with the inter
abandon or flee their country of origin as a result of national legal framework provided by the 1951 Geneva Emilio Mordini (MD,
serious threat to their lives or freedom such as natural Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its MPhil) currently chairs
Responsible Technology,
catastrophe, war or military occupation, fear of religions 1967 Protocol. At the core of this framework, there are
a Paris-based consul
and racial or political persecution.”[2] Refugees could two principles:
tancy for responsible
be segmented into internally displaced people, who • the right to asylum, conceived as a fundamental
research and innovation.
have been displaced within their country’s borders human right; He is a research fellow at
(8.6 million in 2015); asylum seekers, people who are • the principle of non-refoulement, which means that the Haifa University
seeking international protection but whose refugee refugees cannot be forcibly returned to places where Health and Risk Commu
status is yet to be determined (2.45 million in 2015); their lives or freedoms are threatened. nication Center and chair
and stateless people, who (for various reasons) do not man of the Ethics and
Society Sector of the
European Technology
Platform on Security and
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 Unit: million Safety. Emilio also chairs
the Ethical Committee of
12% Jordan
Americas
29% 664,100
6% Africa
Ethiopia
Europe
736,100
Islamic
Republic of Iran
979,400
Somalia Afghanistan Syria
1.1m 2.7m 4.2m Lebanon
1.1m Pakistan
39% 14% 1.6m
Middle East and North Africa Asia and Pacific Turkey
2.5m
33,972 people 9,700 staff 126 countries We are funded almost entirely
by voluntary contributions,
a day forced to flee UNHCR employes 9,700 staff We work in 126 countries with 86% from governments
their homes because of (figures from December 2015)
and the European Union.
conflict and persecution Figure 1:
Displaced persons
Source: UNHCR / 20 June 2016
worldwide.[1]
Globally, the births of nearly 230 million children under the age of five
have never been recorded
People and mass media tend to confuse refugees and More than half the children who have been denied their right to an identity live in Asia
Number of children under age five whose births are not registered, by region
asylum seekers with economic migrants and illegal
aliens. Economic migrants are not a legal category. Birth registration prevalence varies significantly across regions
Percentage of children under age five whose births are registered, by region
They include “a wide array of people that move from 100 98
92
one country to another to advance their economic and 90 87
professional prospects.”[3] Illegal aliens are foreigners 80
who 1) have illegally entered a country, or 2) have 70 65
103 million
entered a country legally, but who no longer hold a South Asia 60
30
immigrants, say, foreigners who have crossed borders
20
legally, but are resident under false pretences. For
10
instance, they entered a country with a tourist visa
0
although they intended to work; or their residence South Asia Sub-Saharan
Africa
Eastern and
Southern
West and
Central
Middle
East and
Latin America
and the
CEE/CIS Least developed
countries
World
their refugee status. Undocumented immigrants are 44 million Percentage of children under age five whose births are registered and number of children
Eastern under age five whose births are not registered, by region
not necessarily all criminals, at worst most of them are and
Southern
guilty of an administrative offense related to their Africa 6 million
Percentage of children Number of children whose
whose births are registered births are not registered
failure to fulfil specific administrative requirements in Middle East
and CEE/CIS 98 700,000
order to stay in the country of destination. North Africa Latin America and the Caribbean 92 4 million
Middle East and North Africa 87 6 million
39 million
West East Asia and the Pacific - 32 million
Documenting the personal identity and Sub-Saharan Africa 44 86 million
Eastern and Southern Africa 38 44 million
of refugees Central
Africa
4 million
Latin America West and Central Africa 47 39 million
and the
Three main reasons can be distinguished as to why Caribbian
South Asia 39 103 million
refugees are requested to proof their personal identity. Least developed countries 38 81 million
32 million World 65 229 million
The first one is that it is necessary for asylum seekers East Asia
and
to distinguish themselves from other categories of the Pacific
700,000
CEE/CIS
foreigners and grant them the refugee status. Although
the 1951 Convention does not explicitly prescribe that
asylum seekers’ applications are assessed on an
individual basis, in most cases there is no alternative. with measures for the public order) could in principle Figure 2:
On the one hand there are situations that can be also be applied to undocumented people, but positive Unregistered children
evaluated only at individual level (for example, someone rights (such as the right to work, to housing, to educa worldwide.
who claims to be persecuted in his country of origin); tion and to access the courts) can be claimed only by
on the other hand applications could be rejected only people who are able to document their personal
at individual level to comply with the principle of non- identity. Refugees also need to be able to document
refoulement, which prevents collective deportation. Of their identity to allow authorities to track and monitor
course, there is always the possibility of collective them, because the refugee status is not necessarily
admissions, which are not prevented by the 1951 permanent. There are at least four situations in which
Convention, but even in this case personal identifi the refugee status could cease to exist:
cation is inevitable. Think for instance of the collective • when a refugee voluntary repatriates;
admission of people fleeing from a war zone. They • when a refugee becomes naturalised in his host
have to prove at least that they truly come from the country;
war zone. However, they could also be legitimately • when the grounds for their refugee status have
requested to demonstrate that they are not militants ceased to exist;
involved in the massacre of civilians. This is because • when a refugee is regarded as a danger to national
the 1951 Convention does not apply to people who have security, or has been convicted of a serious crime.
committed a crime against peace, a war crime, a crime
against humanity or a serious non-political crime. This last point leads to the third main reason why
refugees are requested to document their personal
Moreover, the 1951 Convention bestows upon refugees identity: security. Transnational criminals and terrorists
some rights and obligations. Negative rights (for could try to exploit the 1951 Convention to infiltrate a
example, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and country. Making refugees personally identifiable could
freedom of movement) and obligations (for example, help prevent infiltration, expose criminals and monitor
respecting laws of the hosting country and complying suspects.
In the meantime, international organisations have The UNHCR’s biometric identity management system
also considered using biometrics to document could be the blueprint for a global ID system. A global
refugees’ personal identity. In 2014, the World Bank ID scheme should not necessarily replace national ID
Group presented the Identification for Development systems, which could still work locally, but it could
Initiative (ID4D), aiming “to help countries reach the become a supranational scheme that facilitates cross-
recently adopted Sustainable Development Goal border mobility, while raising security standards.
target of ‘providing legal identity for all, including birth
registration, by 2030’.”[6] The UNHCR launched a plan Biometrics and the blockchain
to provide displaced persons with biometric ID cards. The blockchain technology is chiefly known as the
After initial experiments in Senegal and Malaysia, in technology that underpins Bitcoin and other crypto
2015 the UNHCR announced they had developed the currencies. Yet, this technology has a lot of potential
Figure 3: Biometric Identity Management System (BIMS). This beyond supporting electronic currencies. A blockchain
A UNHCR biometric ID. system for scanning and registering fingerprints and is a distributed database that keeps an ongoing list of
facial and iris images is transaction records protected against manipulation
already available in and revision (see Figure 4). It consists of data blocks,
Apple and Android which each contain batches of transactions, a time
app stores.[7] These stamp, and information linking it to a previous block.
three biometrics are Blocks can be used to prove ownership of a document
stored with bio at a certain time, by including a one-way hash of that
graphic data on document in the transaction. Basically, any electronic
cards (see Figure 3) transaction can be certified through a blockchain.
and in a central Individuals could thus record any document that proves
database in their identity on the blockchain. The structure of the
Geneva. blockchain guarantees that the chain between the
original document and the transaction based on that
document remains unbroken. Information in the block
chain does not need to be guaranteed by a third party
(i.e. local community, state bureaucracy, UNHCR) nor
does it need to be stored in a centralised database.
In 2015, BITNATION, a decentralised, open-source The second issue raised by biometrics for refugees
movement, launched the ‘BITNATION Refugee concerns the creation of centralised databases.
Emergency Response’ (BRER), an application still in its Centralised databases may increase security risks.
embryonic stages that would provide refugees and If they are compromised, the entire identification
asylum seekers with a ‘Blockchain Emergency ID’ (BE- system is threatened. Moreover, large centralised
ID) and ‘Bitcoin Debit Card’ (BDC).[9] An individual’s biometric databases are an easy target for hackers
biometrics would be included in the blockchain and and other malicious entities, also because designers
then used to issue both an ID and a debit card. The – in order to prevent system failure – often build in
goal is to provide refugees with a political and financial high redundancy in parallel systems and mirrors,
solution without relying on hosting country resources thereby adding further vulnerabilities. Centralised
or on international organisations. “(We) out-compete databases also raise ethical and privacy concerns.
governments by providing the same services cheaper One of them is the risk of function creep, which is the
and better through the blockchain,” according to term used to describe the expansion of a process or
Susanne Templehof, founder of BITCOIN.[10] system, where data collected for one specific purpose
is subsequently used for another unintended or
Ethical and political challenges unauthorised purpose. When function creep results
Since the late 1990s, biometrics have been a source of from a deliberate intention, it represents a serious
much ethical and political controversy. An overview of ethical, sometimes also legal, offence. The ISO SC37
the discussion can be found in the entry Biometrics in Harmonised Biometric Vocabulary uses the term ‘sub
the Handbook of Global Bioethics,[11] a longer, more versive use’ instead. Storing refugee information may
detailed, discussion in Second Generation Biometrics: also provide a golden opportunity for insider abuse.
the Ethical and Social Context.[12] There are, however,
two main issues that should be addressed here, A further aspect to be considered concerns the possi
because they are particularly relevant to the refugee bility that raw samples (e.g. face pictures) are stored
subject. in the database together with biometric templates.
Likewise, it could happen that multiple biometrics are
The first is the ‘endless’ question whether biometrics stored in the same database, or multiple databases
offend human dignity. The question was raised some are linked together. All these situations increase the
years ago by the prominent philosopher Giorgio sensitivity of biometric information and amplify the risk
Agamben, who argued that gathering biometric data that biometric databases are used to elicit information
from refugees and other mobile groups is a form of on ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation,
tattooing, akin to the tattooing of Jewish prisoners in political and philosophical opinions of people included.
Auschwitz.[13] What makes human life (bios in ancient
Greek) different from bare life (zoe in ancient Greek) is Personal identification information has often been used
its historical, biographical dimension. There are times, to identify and discriminate against ethnic, political
he argues, when rulers create indistinct zones between and religious groups. IDs can be, and have been, used
bios and zoe. In these areas, humans are stripped of for profiling and segregating minorities, for deportation,
everything except the fact that they have a bare life. ethnic cleansing and genocide. These risks may seem
“No human condition is more miserable than this, nor remote (especially if such a database were managed by
could it conceivably be so. Nothing belongs to us the United Nations), however it is impossible to exclude
anymore; they have taken away our clothes, our shoes, the possibility of theft or abuse of the information by a
even our hair; if we speak, they will not listen to us, malicious entity. Moreover, there is always the possi
and if they listen, they will not understand. They will bility that a legitimate authority covertly uses the
even take away our name.”[13] In Auschwitz, prisoners’ central database for its hidden agenda or to monitor
names were substituted by numbers: “My number is specific religious or ethnic groups. All these risks are
174517; we have been baptised, we will carry the tattoo magnified in case of a global ID scheme, a truly
on our left arm until we die.”[13] To Agamben, this is nightmarish scenario for most privacy advocates.
the deeper sense behind the adoption of biometric
cards. Biometrics are carved in the flesh, like tattoos Conclusions
on people and brands on livestock. Refugees, Agamben Huge masses of people are on the move across nations
suggested, are only at the first step in a process that is and continents. As paper IDs and standard schemes
going to affect everybody in the near future. The global based on civil registers are often insufficient, the world
citizen would be progressively treated as, and conse needs new systems for personal identification. Most
quently turned into, a branded beast – maybe satisfied refugees lack reliable ID. Providing refugees with
and well-fed – but finally sent to slaughter. stronger personal identifiers is a security measure for
the hosting country, but it is also a way to bestow away when they arrive, because, when they arrive, they
fundamental rights upon refugees. Being an identifiable are an anonymous, dispersed, powerless mass.
person is a prerequisite in order to enjoy civil, political,
and social rights. In ancient Rome, slaves were nameless, they just had
a nickname given by their owner. When a slave was
From a technical point of view, biometrics could play a freed, he could finally have a name and a surname.
pivotal role in replacing current identification practices. This also marked his transition from an ‘object’ to a
Concerns regarding the creation of centralised biometric human being. So, making people identifiable does not
databases could probably be overcome using block mean to ‘dehumanize’ them. On the contrary, it is the
chain technology. The blockchain network is by defi first step in restoring their lost humanity.
nition trustless and decentralised. In practice, it means
that neither national institutions nor international
institutions or large corporations, would ‘own’ and References
control biometric data of refugees. Biometric informa 1 UNHCR (2016). Global Trends. Forced Displacement in 2015,
tion would be secured within the blockchain, making Geneva: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
theft and forgery of biometric details highly unlikely. 2 Humburg, J. (2003). Refugee. In: G. Bolaffi, ed. Dictionary of
Race, Ethnicity and Culture. London: Sage.
Finally, the blockchain could provide higher data 3 Semmelroggen, J. (2015). The difference between asylum-
granularity, which is a precious feature in databases seekers. refugees and economic migrants. The Independent,
that store multiple biometrics and non-biometric 18 August 2015. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/
information. Higher data granularity means that one world/europe/the-difference-between-asylum-seekers-
could operate on smaller, and more focused, pieces of refugees-and-economic-migrants-10460431.html.
information, thereby limiting the risk of function creep Accessed on 5 August 2016.
and data leakage. Such a system could continually 4 UNICEF (2013). Every Child’s Birth Right: Inequities and
grow like a rhizome, made up of several distributed, trends in birth registration. http://www.unicef.org/mena/
interoperable networks, which also cover non-refugees MENA-Birth_Registration_report_low_res-01.pdf.
(such as international travellers and economic Accessed on 5 August 2016.
migrants). In the end, the goal of creating a global, 5 International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Doc 9303:
open access scheme for personal identification could Machine Readable Travel Documents, Part 3: Specifications
be achieved, without the need for (and the risk of) Common to all MRTDs, current version: seventh Edition 2015.
empowering a ‘global data controller’. http://www.icao.int/publications/Documents/9303_p3_
Would such a scheme also address the concerns cons_en.pdf. Accessed on 5 August 2016.
about the ethical and political legitimacy of biometric 6 Identification for Development. http://www.worldbank.org/
identification? No, it wouldn’t. Agamben’s concern – en/programs/id4d. Accessed on 5 August 2016
and other similar concerns – cannot be solved with a 7 UNHCR (2015). Biometric Identity Management System.
technological solution. It would require a much more Enhancing Registration and Data Management. http://
in-depth discussion, well beyond the scope of this www.unhcr.org/550c304c9.pdf. Accessed on 5 August 2016.
article. But it is possible to make a point here. 8 Amit, 2016. 12 Companies Leveraging Blockchain for Identi
fication and Authentication. https://letstalkpayments.com/
To ‘dehumanise’ the prisoners in the Nazi camps, they 12-companies-leveraging-blockchain-for-identification-
were deprived of their identity. On their arrival in the and-authentication. Accessed on 5 August 2016.
camp, they were still humans, then the implacable law 9 BITNATION. Bitnation Refugee Emergency Response (BRER).
of the camp turned them into beasts or killed them, or https://refugees.bitnation.co/. Accessed on 5 August 2016.
often both. This is tragically described by Primo Levi.[14] 10 Allison, I. (2015). Decentralised government project Bitnation
Refugees, however, have already lost their humanity offers refugees blockchain IDs and bitcoin debit cards.
by the time they arrive. They lose it in their countries http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/decentralised-government-
of origin and when they leave, losing everything except project-bitnation-offers-refugees-blockchain-ids-bitcoin-
their bare life. They are ‘dehumanized’ during their debit-cards-1526547. Accessed on 5 August 2016.
tragic journey, hidden in a truck, pressed together like 11 Mordini, E. (2013). Biometrics. In: H. A. t. Have & B. Gordijn,
cheap merchandise, or in small crumbling boats eds. Handbook of Global Bioethics. Berlin: Springer.
carrying hundreds of them. When a refugee tries to cross 12 Mordini, E. & Tzovaras, D. (2012). Second Generation
the barbed wire at the border of the country of arrival, Biometrics: the Ethical and Social Context. Berlin: Springer.
he does not want to enter into a ‘concentration camp’, 13 Agamben, G. (2008). No to bio-political tattooing. Commu
rather he wants to flee from the concentration camp nication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 5(2), pp. 201-202.
where he used to live. Refugees’ names are not stripped 14 Levi, P. (1958). If this is a man. New York: Orion Press.