UN to expand digital ID platform to refugees

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East is utilizing its eUNRWA digital identity platform as the authentication system for distributing humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees with financial assistance from the EU.

UNRWA has announced [1] the receipt of €3 million in new humanitarian aid from the EU to go towards Palestinian refugees from Syria. Those registered with the agency's digital ID verification system will receive monthly cash assistance of €38 per household, in addition to €17 per individual.

Branko Golubovic, an EU Humanitarian Expert at [2] the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, said “The EU’s support provides vulnerable Palestine Refugee families from Syria with the opportunity to live with dignity despite particularly difficult circumstances. The EU continues to support the most vulnerable in Lebanon, including Palestine Refugees from Syria, Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese, in their time of need.”

Dorothee Klaus, who [3] is the Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon also said, “The EU’s support provides a critical lifeline for Palestine Refugees from Syria who remain in Lebanon and continue to face immense hardship. Until conditions allow for a safe and dignified return to Syria, the cash assistance enables families to meet basic livelihood needs in increasingly difficult circumstances.”

The initiative seeks to enhance the distribution of cash and material aid to these refugees, promoting both ease and transparency. The eUNRWA app, [4] which was launched in February 2023, serves as a bilingual mobile platform for Palestine refugees and others eligible for UNRWA services. This platform enables users to view and update their registration records, submit applications for life events, track the status of these applications, and download [5] a Family Registration eCard.

The platform serves as a digital access, authentication, and verification layer integrated with UNRWA’s Refugee Registration Information System database, which contains records for [6] approximately 5.9 million Palestinian refugees and hundreds of thousands of other eligible individuals. Utilizing a biometrics-based digital verification system, UNRWA has enhanced its humanitarian assistance programme for refugees. This development illustrates the transformation of traditional beneficiary registries into digital identity infrastructure, establishing a reliable identification layer for digital service delivery.

The UN Refugee Agency have also been implementing digital ID systems. However, privacy advocates are raising concerns that these systems necessitate robust measures to ensure consent, protect data, and mitigate risks of exclusion, especially for vulnerable groups. Human Rights Watch reported that the UNHCR collected [7] personal information and biometric data from ethnic Rohingya refugees without proper procedures. This information was then shared with Bangladesh, which subsequently passed it on to Myanmar to inform its considerations regarding potential repatriation.

The refugee agency reportedly did not perform a data impact assessment regarding its data management, which contravenes its established policies, and did not secure informed consent from refugees for the sharing of biometric and other data with the country they had fled, as indicated in a recent report. The UNHCR has rejected allegations of misconduct, asserting that it communicated the purpose of the data collection and maintained that no Rohingya individuals were endangered. Human Rights Watch highlights ongoing crimes against humanity and persecution carried out by the Myanmar government against its Rohingya population.

According to research and interviews conducted by HRW with refugees and field observers, out of 24 refugees interviewed, 23 reported that UNHCR personnel informed them they needed to register for the camps’ Smart Cards to receive aid, but did not address the potential sharing of data with Myanmar or how such information could be relevant to repatriation assessments. The Smart Card system was introduced by the Bangladesh government as a way to provide refugees with identity cards and supplemented the UNHCR’s earlier registration efforts.

A report examining the applications of digital identity in humanitarian contexts highlights both the challenges and opportunities presented by the technology, providing five key recommendations for its development and adaptation, especially in migration situations. As a consortium of humanitarian organizations embarks on the second phase of its cash assistance initiative, it has opted to assess the broader utilization of digital identity within the sector.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies collaborated with the Dignified Identities for Cash or DIGID consortium which includes the Norwegian Red Cross, Norwegian Refugee Council, Norwegian Church Aid, and Save the Children Norway to produce the [8] report titled Digital Identity: Enabling dignified access to humanitarian services in migration. Nesrine Aouinti [9] for Prepare Centre said [10] in the research, “At the various stages of their journeys, migrants are asked to identify themselves to gain access to humanitarian services. But people on the move have specific needs and concerns when it comes to identification. The sheer variety of migration scenarios around the world make this a multifaceted topic, including issues related to the inclusion and protection of those who are fearful of being identified. Meanwhile, there is an accelerating trend for humanitarian organizations to adopt digital identification technology in their work with forcibly displaced migrants. This brings with it opportunities to improve access to services, but also risks around, for instance, data privacy and security.”

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