Perhaps without us realizing it, biometrics have crept into many corners of our lives. The prevalence of biometrics—the use of physical characteristics to determine and verify identity—facilitates our access to the world. Be it fingerprinting, iris scans, or facial recognition, biometrics has streamlined identification, making it easier and easier to add ID processes to interactions where they were missing before. Biometric usage has even become standard practice in the humanitarian aid industry.
By adopting biometric registration systems, aid agencies efficiently provide refugees with an official identity, prevent fraud, and improve the dignity of the refugee aid process. Yet despite those benefits, biometrics also threaten the security of refugees, especially women, in three ways: through greater risk for false matches; by increasing the potential for discrimination; and by threatening exploitation. The first step in correcting these problems is recognizing them.
