FMR 73

Digital disruption and displacement

May 2024

Digital technologies are transforming our lives. Forcibly displaced people are using digital technologies in ways that inform and shape their migration and settlement in new places; and there are new opportunities for accessing training and income-generating activities online. At the same time, digital technologies are being used on (or against) forcibly displaced people. Complex predictive modelling, geolocation tracking on mobile phones, biometric data use and dissemination, digital financial systems and the use of artificial intelligence in decision-making are among the digital technologies discussed in this issue.

FMR 73

Digital disruption and displacement

May 2024

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Emily Arnold-Fernández (Managing Editor), Catherine Meredith (Deputy Editor), Marie Godin and Derya Ozkul (Expert Advisors)

From the Editors

Digital technologies are transforming our lives. Forcibly displaced people are using digital technologies in ways that inform and shape their migration and settlement in new places. At the same time, digital technologies are being used on (or against) forcibly displaced people in the public and humanitarian sectors.

UNHCR Innovation and Digital Services

Foreword - Navigating digital opportunities and risks

More than ever before, digital technology is integral to the lives of forcibly displaced people and the humanitarian systems they interact with. The connected society has the potential to improve the day-to-day lives of millions of people on the move. Ensuring that access to this technology develops equally, and that both the benefits and risks in its use are considered carefully, involves complex challenges.

Jessica Bither and Jassin Irscheid

Foreword - Building a responsible digital infrastructure

Digital technologies are transforming the way human mobility is experienced and managed across borders. This issue offers insights into the different ways in which technologies are changing displacement-related settings around the world: from predictive modelling to anticipate climate-induced migration, biometric data collection in humanitarian operations and asylum seekers’ experiences using the CBP One app in Mexico, to the use of mobile phone data by the Dutch and German authorities, and opportunities and challenges presented by the digital platform economy. These examples illustrate the often ambivalent nature of technology and the importance of context and nuance in understanding their implications.

Natalie Brinham and Ali Johar

Refugee experiences of identity documents and digitisation in India and Myanmar

Drawing on the authors’ joint activism on the rights of refugees and stateless people in India and Myanmar, this article considers how digital ID systems can be used to exclude minorities.

Kinan Alajak, Derya Ozkul, Koen Leurs, Rianne Dekker and Albert Ali Salah

The dangers and limitations of mobile phone screening in asylum processes

European authorities are increasingly screening asylum seekers’ phones at the cost of their fundamental rights. In this piece, we suggest a procedural shift – prioritising fairness in the asylum procedure and voluntary cooperation towards purposeful goals.

Abril Ríos-Rivera

The digitisation of US asylum application processes and externalisation in Mexico

The US government’s app CBP One is part of a digital migration control regime that favours border externalisation, paralyses human mobility and saturates the capacity of organisations that support asylum seekers and other migrants in Mexico.

Jenny Casswell

The essential role of digital literacy in contexts of forced displacement

Digital technology can be a catalyst for positive change for forcibly displaced people if individuals have the requisite digital literacy to participate equally, meaningfully and safely in the digital world.

Kristy Crabtree and Rana Obadi

Addressing the digital gender gap among displaced communities in Yemen

Technology can be a great enabler in humanitarian settings, extending access to information and services to affected populations. However, gendered barriers to accessing internet-enabled devices should be addressed as part of the response.

Lala Zinkevych

Digital lifelines: addressing gender-based violence in Ukraine

In Ukraine, a new wave of digital services has emerged to assist displaced populations vulnerable to conflict-related and domestic violence. This article considers the strengths and weaknesses of these innovative platforms.

Amir Shiva

Safety, dignity and efficiency: the role of digital platforms in legal aid

Digital legal aid platforms for displaced populations have transformative potential. This article discusses the Norwegian Refugee Council’s experience of implementing a digital legal aid platform while navigating ethical considerations.

Kathryn McDonald

Structural barriers to the digital platform economy for forcibly displaced workers

Regulatory vacuums contribute to the structural exclusion of forcibly displaced populations seeking work on digital labour platforms. Even where these issues can be overcome, questions remain as to the viability of these platforms as a path to economic empowerment.

Andhira Yousif Kara, Lorraine Charles, Giselle Gonzales and Selen Ucak

Inclusive and dignified digital work: linking markets and displaced people

A team of four experts – with experience upskilling refugees, facilitating job linkages, impact investing, researching economic inclusion, and lived experience as a refugee – discuss the barriers that displaced people face in accessing digital work and how these can be overcome.

Wala Mohammed

The digital exclusion of refugees and IDPs in Sudan

Being left behind in a digital world can be devastating for forced migrants. This article reflects on the digital exclusion that refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) face in Sudan due to the repercussions of ongoing restrictions on accessing technology.

Marie Godin, Ishimwe Jean-Marie and Evan Easton-Calabria

Digital refugee economies in Nairobi: opportunities and challenges

Drawing on a collaborative and participatory research initiative conducted in partnership with refugee-led organisations – Kintsugi RLO and Youth Voices Community – this article sheds light on the existence, potential and drawbacks of ‘digital livelihoods’ for refugees.

Saqib Sheikh and Muhammad Noor

Identity or survival? Digitally preserving Rohingya cultural heritage

The Rohingya people face the threat of loss of their own ethnic identity. A new digital archive offers a means of preserving documents and other material related to Rohingya cultural heritage, but this innovative project is also fraught with challenges.

Ahmed Ezzeldin Mohamed and Craig Damian Smith

Ethically informed algorithmic matching and refugee resettlement

This article discusses real-world projects using algorithms to match resettled refugees with sponsors and services. The authors argue that when done right, algorithms can support larger-scale and better-informed resettlement.

Nyi Nyi Kyaw

Digital counter-surveillance by refugees from Myanmar in Thailand

Host countries hold considerable powers to place forced migrants under surveillance, but, as this case study from Thailand illustrates, forced migrants may use what agency they have to launch digitally mediated counter-surveillance and reconnaissance.

Berfin Nur Osso

How art and social media transformed refugee movements in Lesvos

From the social media movement ‘Now You See Me Moria’ to the Hope Art Project, refugees in Lesvos are using digital platforms to disrupt restrictive legislation, practices and discourses inflicted on them by state authorities.

Julia Camargo and Amanda Alencar

Exploring Venezuelans’ perspectives on border technologies

This article aims to raise awareness and build understanding of the impact of the digitalisation of border spaces on Venezuelan refugees.

Amanda Wells

Digital refugee resistance, power, representation and algorithmic censorship

Refugees that attempt to use digital media for resistance face barriers, including algorithmic censorship and harassment, that solidify their position in the political margins. This demonstrates the need for greater transparency, accountability and democracy in digital governance.

Quito Tsui and Elizabeth Shaughnessy

Technocolonialism and biometrics: reinvigorating the call to decolonise aid

Humanitarian organisations are increasingly calling for the decolonisation of the sector, but this often overlooks colonialities reproduced by technology. By scrutinising the deployment and ubiquity of biometric technologies in the sector, this article seeks to reinvigorate sincere efforts towards decolonisation.

Roda Siad

Challenges and risks associated with biometric-enabled cash assistance

Cash-based interventions may have the potential to foster empowerment, autonomy and self-reliance, but unequal implementation and politics surrounding biometric-enabled cash assistance threaten the chances of achieving these aims.

Wangui Gitahi

Navigating the legal landscape of double registration in Kenya

Registration on the database of refugees in Kenya has placed Kenyan nationals at risk of statelessness. This article discusses how this came about and considers the importance of data security, privacy and subject rights.

M Sanjeeb Hossain, Tasnuva Ahmad, Mohammad Azizul Hoque and Tin Swe

The ejajot of Rohingya refugees in the age of digital humanitarianism

This article outlines the circumstances that led to the ejajot (informed consent) of many Rohingya refugees not being taken during the joint verification exercise, which ultimately led to the biometric registration of almost a million Rohingya people.

Carolina Gottardo, Celia Finch and Hannah Cooper

Digital technology, detention and alternatives to detention

The use of technology in immigration detention and alternatives to immigration detention could lead to the erosion of migrants and refugees’ human rights, or it could enable greater freedom and dignity. This article explores the complexities of this issue.

Francesca Palmiotto and Derya Ozkul

Contesting automation: the NewTech Litigation Database

Informed litigation is vital to uphold the rights of migrants subject to automated decision-making. This article introduces the NewTech Litigation Database, a tool for anyone seeking to contest the use of automated systems in migration and asylum processes.

Steffen Angenendt and Anne Koch

Migration forecasting: expectations, limitations and political functions

Predictive analytics to forecast future migration and displacement are receiving increasing attention, despite their limited practical utility to date. This is because they serve a number of political functions, including strengthening policy coherence and creating an impression of control.