Globalised opportunities come with globalised risk. On the one hand the opening of markets, immigration and trade has promoted new growth in many parts of the world. But on the other hand countries have also become more open to new global risks – and responsibilities.
Conflict in Syria and the Middle East has led to one of the largest refugees crises since the Second World War. Similarly in Somalia and South Sudan, years of civil war has resulted in a decade’s long influx of displaced peoples to neighbouring countries. Uganda for instance now hosts more than 1.3 million refugees, surpassed globally only by Turkey and Pakistan.
Unfortunately much of this displacement has been spurred by trans-national terrorist movements who, when they are not mounting military insurgencies, have carried out attacks in Paris, London, Manchester, Brussels and others. Africa has also been susceptible to such acts of terror with attacks on Westgate Mall and Garissa University in Kenya and the ongoing fight against Boko Haram in Nigeria.
Given this troubling context it should come as no surprise that a 2017 Pew Research Poll found that global terrorism and the global refugee crisis are cited as being amongst the top concerns facing the world today. This speaks not only to the international communities recognition that initiatives to counter terrorist movements but also to its recognised commitment to assisting the millions of displaced people around the world.
The UN introduced biometric technology to process refugees in 2002 – with the overriding commitment being that biometrics provide ‘efficient, accurate and dignified’ oversite over refugee support while also preventing fraud and potential terrorist incursions. Some detractors have raised concerns that biometrics would be used to restrict rights or that their data would not be secure. However biometrics, more than most any other form of identity verification, is fully aligned to highly secured data protection with encryption protocols and methodologies protecting individuals rights to privacy and securing their personal information from abuse and misuse. These commitments are in fact taken so seriously as to be enshrined in international human rights law. The same data security that is afforded to banking and other private sector applications can be applied to secure and effective support of the world’s 65 million refugees.
Just as biometrics is being applied to protect the rights of vulnerable people, it is also being used to protect people from the threat of global terrorism. At the Davos World Economic forum held in 2018 US Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen stressed that there is a growing need for states to share information as part of the effort to fight terrorism and emphasised “the importance of biometric data in making cross-border travel faster and more secure.”
By applying biometric systems to land, air and marine borders and points of entry security forces can ensure the legitimate status of travellers, goods and refugees and share information with other countries and global organisations like INTERPOL to promote an effective global response to a debilitating global problem. Biometrics also hold the promise of furthering security and accuracy through integration with new technologies. For instance The World Economic Forum also saw the launch of the ‘Known Traveller’ program, which promotes the application of blockchain technology, in tandem with biometrics to further secure and improve the nature of international travel.
Once again parts of Africa have chosen to rapidly adopt biometrics to secure the rights and safety of their citizens. After the Garrissa University attacks, mentioned above, the Government of Kenya introduced a new law mandating that universities introduce biometric access control systems to protect students and reduce the chance that such a tragedy can happen again.