"In Jordan, refugees scan irises to collect aid. But is it ethical?" 14 Dec 2022

At a grocery store checkout in the Jordanian refugee camp of Azraq, Sameera Sabbouh stares wide-eyed into a scanner to pay for her shopping — her iris scan unlocking payment from a digital aid account with the help of block- chain technology.

Many of the nearly 40,000 Syrians who live in the camp recognize the convenience of the cashless, card-free payment method, which verifies recipients’ identity by referencing a UN database, but few said they like it.

“It’s really tiring. It doesn’t take the eye scan in the first try — it is two or three times before it takes the scan,” said Sabbouh, a mother of two from Aleppo who fled the city in 2015. “I would rather have my fingerprint scanned.”...

The system enables the tracking, coordination and delivery of multiple types of assistance, including cash, food, water and medicine, and has saved about $2.5 million in bank fees on millions of transactions, according to the WFP.

But digital rights groups question the use of such new technology among vulnerable groups such as refugees, and the need for them to surrender sensitive biometric data in order to receive vital food aid...

Others question whether refugees reliant on aid are in a position to give informed consent...

Responding to such criticism, Roland Schoenbauer, a spokesperson for UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said refugees were informed about the objectives of gathering their data when they were asked to give permission.

...

IrisGuard, the company commissioned by the United Nations for the eye scanners and the software that verifies payments and transactions in Jordan, does not retain any data on the refugees, said Simon Reed, a director at the company.

The machines have built-in encryption, and the company adheres to the General Data Protection Regulation, the European Union’s legal framework ensuring privacy rights, he added.

“We wanted this to be as absolutely anonymous as we could possibly make it,” he said.