A/75/590
alternative is starvation. Indeed, an investigation in the Azraq refugee camp 98 revealed
that most refugees interviewed were uncomfortable with such technological
experiments but felt that they could not refuse if they wanted to eat. The goal or
promise of improved service delivery cannot justify the levels of implicit coercion
underlying regimes such as these. 99
35. Consultations highlighted concerns among Rohingya ref ugees in Bangladesh
and India that their data may be shared in ways that increased their risk of
refoulement, or be shared with the Government of Myanmar, increasing their
vulnerability to human rights violations in the event of forcible and other forms of
return of these groups to their country of origin. A serious concern in this context is
that of “function creep”, where data collected in one context (e.g. monitoring low level fraud) is shared and reused for different purposes (e.g. to populate registrie s of
potential terror suspects), 100 with no procedural and substantive protections for the
individuals whose data are being shared and repurposed.
36. In some cases, the very nature of data collection can produce profoundly
discriminatory outcomes. Fleeing genocide in Myanmar, more than 742,000 stateless
Rohingya refugees have crossed to Bangladesh since August 2017. 101 The UNHCR
and Government of Bangladesh registration system did not offer “Rohingya” as an
ethnic identity option, instead using “Myanmar nationals”, a term that Myanmar does
not recognize, and which does not capture the reality that Rohingya are stateless due
to having been arbitrarily deprived of their right to nationality of Myanmar. 102 As one
submission notes, categorization using this unrecognizable term on their digital
identity cards amounts to a form of “symbolic annihilation of the Rohingya” required
to carry and use these cards. 103
37. Exclusion of refugees and asylum seekers from essential basic services through
digital technology systems also occurs outside of refugee camp settings. One
submission provides an example from Germany. In Germany, under the Asylum
Seekers’ Benefits Act, undocumented persons have the same right to health care as
asylum seekers. 104 However, the social welfare office that administers health care for
the undocumented has a duty to report their personal data to immigration authorities
under section 87 of the Residence Act, which governs the “transfer of data and
information for foreign authorities” by all public authorities. 105 This means that
legally accessing health care may result in immigration enforcement, which likely has
a chilling effect on migrant and refugees’ use of even emergency health care.
2.
Technological experimentation
38. Submissions received for the present report raise serious concerns with the
widespread technological experimentation conducted by State and non -State actors
on refugees, migrants and stateless persons. This experimentation involves testing of
various technological products under circumstances where targeted groups have
limited or no means of providing informed consent, and where the human rights
consequences of the testing and experimentation are negative or unknown. Typically,
__________________
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
16/25
See www.irinnews.org/analysis/2016/05/18/eye-spy-biometric-aid-system-trials-jordan.
See www.unhcr.org/innovation/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Space-and-imagination-rethinkingrefugees%E2%80%99-digital-access_WEB042020.pdf; and Dragana Kaurin, “Data protection
and digital agency for refugees”.
Submission by Mirca Madianou.
See www.unhcr.org/en-us/rohingya-emergency.html.
Mirca Madianou, “Technocolonialism: digital innovation and data practices in the humanitarian
response to refugee crises”.
Submission by Mirca Madianou.
Submission by Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants.
Ibid.
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