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

Publisher: Blackwell Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 7702072 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1467-7717 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 03613666 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Disasters Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: Oxford : Blackwell
Original Publication: Oxford, Elmsford, N. Y., Pergamon Press.

United Nations* ; Refugees*; Humans ; Altruism ; Biometry

Humanitarian organisations are increasingly utilising 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 United Nations Refugee Agency, the United Nations World Food Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, and World Vision International. The study analysed 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 reveal that humanitarian organisations use diverse types and functions of biometric data for different services, collaborate with many actors, and employ various data protection measures. Ultimately, challenging the straightforward generalisations 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 instance will likely produce a different outcome.
(© 2023 The Authors. Disasters published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of ODI.)

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Agency for Management of University and Research Grants of the Government of Catalonia

Keywords: biometrics; data; humanitarian aid; humanitarian organisations; international aid; technology
Local Abstract: [Publisher, Arabic] تستخدم المنظمات الإنسانيَّة البيانات البيومترية بشكلٍ متزايد. إلا أننا نعلم القليل بشأن مدى هذه الممارسة والغرض منها، فقد جلبت مزاياها ومخاطرها الأنظار إليها إلى حد بعيد؛ لذا، بحثت هذه الورقة حول ماهية الممارسات البيومترية التابعة لوكالة الأمم المتحدة للاجئين، وبرنامج الأغذية العالمي التابع للأمم المتحدة، ولجنة الصليب الأحمر الدولية، ومنظمتي أطباء بلا حدود، و الرؤى الدوليَّة «وورلد فيجن انترناشونال»، ثم حللت الوثائق ذات الصلة المنشورة منذ عقدي ماضيين، وسبع عشرة مقابلات شبه منظمة مع العاملين في المجال الإنساني، والتي أجريت في الفترة بين يونيو 2021 ويونيو 2022. واستعرضت نتائجها بأن المنظمات الإنسانيَّة تستخدم البيانات البيومترية باختلاف صورها ووظائفها لأداء العديد من الخدمات، والتعاون مع الكثير من الجهات الفاعلة، واستخدام تدابير حماية البيانات المختلفة. وعن مناهضة التعميم الصريح بشأن استخدام تلك البيانات، تستعرض المقالة التطبيقات المتعددة للقياسات الحيويَّة في السياقات الإنسانيَّة التي تستلزم تحليل حالة تلو الأخرى، فمن الممكن أن يترتب على ذلك نتائج مختلفة. الكلمات الافتتاحيَّة: القياسات الحيويَّة، والبيانات، والمساعدات، والمنظَّمات الإنسانيَّة، والتكنولوجيا. [Publisher, Chinese] 人道主義組織逐漸增加對生物辨識資料的使用。然而，我們對於這種做法的程度和範圍的認知僅有一星半點，因為迄今為止它的益處和風險吸引了所有的注意力。本文探討了聯合國難民署、聯合國世界糧食計劃署、紅十字國際委員會、無國界醫生及世界展望會的生物辨識做法。本文分析了過去二十年間發表的相關文件及2021年6月至2022年6月期間對人道主義工作者進行的17次引導式訪談。調查結果顯示，人道主義組織針對不同的服務使用了各式各樣的類型和功能的生物辨識資料、與許多行動者共同作業，並使用各種資料保護措施。最後，本文對關於此類資料使用的明確陳述提出了挑戰，認為人道主義環境中的各種生物辨識技術應用需要逐案分析，因為每個案例使用都可能會產生不同的結果。 關鍵詞：生物辨識、資料、人道主義援助、人道主義組織、技術.

Date Created: 20230927 Date Completed: 20240315 Latest Revision: 20240315

20240315

10.1111/disa.12612

37756185