IRIN | Irresponsible data? The risks of registering the Rohingya
▻http://www.irinnews.org/opinion/2017/10/23/irresponsible-data-risks-registering-rohingya
Massive amounts of personal and biometric data are being gathered from hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. This should set off multiple alarm bells.
As bystanders to likely crimes against humanity against the Rohingya, the humanitarian community has a particular responsibility to ensure their rights are not violated further, through data and technology. Now is the time to push for safeguards, before it’s too late.
Gathering data on marginalised groups can be a risky business, and the Rohingya are no strangers to having information about them used to further diminish their human rights. What is being proposed in Bangladesh raises broad concerns about the responsible and ethical use of data and is potentially dangerous.
Refugees may reasonably think their access to aid and protection may depend on one or both registrations, so the power asymmetry is stark between those designing and carrying out the data collection and those on the receiving end of it.
The responsible data considerations are numerous and complex.
What data should be collected, by whom? Who has access to it? In case of machine or human error, what processes are in place to review and make changes? What could be the unintended consequences of these growing databases? How could the data be abused?
All of these questions, and more, need to be thought through and the conclusions intentionally planned into any kind of data collection about the Rohingya, before more harm is done.
Using biometric data as proof of identity might allow aid and services to be delivered to Rohingya refugees more effectively, but it’s a double-edged sword for several reasons:
Firstly, it can be used to drive repatriation (voluntary or otherwise). Bangladeshi Industry Minister Amir Hossain Amu has openly stated that the country has “no plan to give any refugee status to Rohingya”, adding: “the reason behind the biometric process is to keep record of Rohingya. We want them to go back to their own place.”
Secondly, it can digitally enable discrimination. Rohingya have to follow a ”code of conduct” that forces them to stay inside the camps and limits their interaction with locals. If the database of Rohingya people were to be leaked, hacked, or shared (for example, with the Myanmar government), it could make it easier to deny Rohingya access to basic services, or target them, or discriminate against them. For example, Bangladeshi mobile phone operators have been banned from selling SIM cards to Rohingya refugees. Biometric data could in theory be shared with mobile phone operators to enforce the ban.
Thirdly, errors and omissions can be harder to resolve. Unlike passwords, fingerprints can’t be changed. Once collected, it may be virtually impossible to get rid of them or correct them. Biometric devices are not 100 percent accurate – and it’s unclear what action could be taken if mistakes are made.
#Fichiers #Biométrie #Rohingya #Droits_humains #Epuration_ethnique
