A/75/590 the rise of racist and xenophobic advocacy on social media platforms in the wake of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. In some cases, users had posted photographs of migrants and refugees whom they perceived to be “illegal”, raising serious concerns of subsequent real-world targeting of individuals, in addition to online abuse. 21. One submission called attention to an anonymously run blacklisting website, Canary Mission, that prejudicially targets students, professors and activists who have publicly advocated for Palestinian rights and disproportionately targets people of Arab descent. According to the submission, information published on Canary Mission has been used by Israeli immigration officials in the context of administration and enforcement of Israeli borders, and the borders of the occupied Palestinian territory, including to deny entry. 52 Such practices violate equality and non-discrimination rights, as well as freedom of expression protections, and leave those whose rights are violated with limited avenues of redress. 2. Racial profiling 22. Consultations with migrants, refugees and stateless persons also highlighted the role of digital technologies in racial and ethnic profiling in border enforcement. Participants raised concerns with ethnic profiling of Roma at the borders of North Macedonia. A 2017 case of racial profiling of Roma revealed that officials stored biometric data of individuals prevented from crossing these borders, on a “stop list”. 53 Advocates raised valid concerns that these sorts of lists are disproportionately populated by Roma, who are subject to ethnic profiling and have limited means of challenging their presence on these lists. 3. Mandatory biometric data collection, digital identification systems, and exclusion from basic services 23. States are increasingly mandating extensive biometric data collection from non-citizens, where the collection and use of this data raise concerns of direct and indirect forms of discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, descent and even religion. As mentioned above, in most cases refugees, migrants and stateless persons have no control over how the data collected from them are shared. According to one submission, India requires mandatory biometric data collection from non citizens, with a discriminatory use of this data being targeted detention and deportation even for refugees such as Rohingya. 54 Another concern raised in the context of India is the use of Aadhaar as de facto exclusion from vital basic services which rely on automated systems from which non-citizens are excluded entirely 55 Because refugees without residency permits are prohibited from holding Aadhaar cards, they are discriminated against and excluded from access to basic services and enjoyment of “rights that ensure a dignified refuge in India”. 56 According to this submission, even refugee children have been denied primary educatio n on the basis of not having Aadhaar. 57 24. Regarding stateless persons in particular, participants in consultations reported that the expansion of digital identification systems was destroying the informal means of survival that these groups had developed in the absence of proper documentation __________________ 52 53 54 55 56 57 20-14872 Submission by Palestine Legal. See www.errc.org/uploads/upload_en/file/5209_file1_third-party-intervention-kham-delchevoand-others-v-north-macedonia-5-february-2020.pdf. Submission by Anubhav Dutt Tiwari and Jessica Field. Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. 11/25

Select target paragraph3