Empowering border management agencies to aid refugeesUsing digital identity management to ease safe resettlement

“What we need is a border management system that can establish both identity and entitlement—at least half of that can now be taken away by biometrics.”

Tony Smith CBE, CEO at Fortinus Global and formerly Director of the United Kingdom Border Force

3 Empowering border management agencies to aid refugees

As tens of thousands of people flee conflict and persecution, Europe is experiencing the largest global refugee influx since WWII.1 According to the European Union (EU) statistics agency, Eurostat, more than 570,000 asylum applications were made in 2014.2 The global level of displacement is increasing with nearly 60 million people noted to be forcibly displaced worldwide in 2014, compared to 37.5 million a decade ago.3 Country leaders are voicing their struggle to deal with the new arrivals. Yet when a young boy’s body washed up on a Turkish shore, the subject of refugees became less about numbers, or a political issue, and more of a humanitarian crisis.

Practical help is the priority. Commentators have offered suggestions and advice about how individual countries could better manage displaced persons. But it is not only the refugees who need help. The border agencies responsible for recording and processing people in such unprecedented numbers in remote locations also need support. Even taking into account variations country-by-country, most reception centers are designed to handle only a limited number of refugees per month. Now, many member states are seeing a ten-fold increase in those numbers. With high volumes of applicants arriving at

train stations, ports or local shores, rather than entering via formal reception centers, both member states and refugees could benefit from a more flexible means to process claims from more mobile, high-capacity reception centers. In this way, border management agencies can save time, money and resources. The improved identity information can also enable refugees to find residency in their host country quickly, give them access to the services to which they are entitled and so desperately need and help address potential security threats.

1 The Global Times, September 2015, http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/941221.shtml

1 Note: applying for asylum can be a lengthy procedure so many of those given refugee status may have applied in previous years, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34131911 as at November 2015

2 UNHCR’s annual Global Trends Report (as at the end of 2014): http://www.unhcr.org/558193896.html

Border management agencies can benefit from using identity as an enabler to ease the free movement of refugees or asylum seekers while maintaining safety and security. Three actions that better serve displaced persons include:

Enroll vast numbers of refugees, rapidly

From the United Kingdom funding extra channel tunnel guards4 to Greek officials setting up makeshift registration desks on a local beach, to President Obama ordering his administration to “scale up” the number of refugees admitted to the United States in the coming year,5 the need to quickly and accurately record the details of an increasing number of refugees—and manage these identities on an ongoing basis—is a primary concern. Globally, more than two billion people lack formal identification and 500 million people lack recognizable ID documentation,6 making authenticity checks harder. This key operational challenge could be eased by using a scalable identity management system, including biometrics, to augment existing processes and systems such as EURODAC.

EURODAC, a centralized biometric database of asylum seekers and irregular border crossers over the age of 14 years, makes it possible to check

their identities, including fingerprints, “against those in the central database to determine whether the individual had previously lodged an asylum application in another member state”7—helping the authorities to understand whether an applicant has been refused entry due to inconsistent information, criminal offences or false travel documentation. However, neither EURODAC nor the existing reception centers are sized for an influx on the scale that has been seen in recent months.

Any government’s ability to equitably deliver vital services to residents rests on accurate enrollment and unique identification. Most travelers feel favorably toward a system of checks and balances. When an Accenture survey asked citizens across the world if they would be happy to share their biometric details, 89 percent concurred.8 What is more, they understood the benefits of biometrics in terms of security and fast, efficient processing.

Since the first step in handling high-volumes of refugees is to register new arrivals on in-country systems, border management agencies should consider an efficient enrolment solution to be a priority to improve people processing power and better aid refugees.

Identity as an enabler

4 Empowering border management agencies to aid refugees

4 The Guardian, August 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/aug/03/uk-funds-100-extra-channel-tunnel-guards-as-migrant-standoff-continues

5 http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/10/politics/u-s-take-10000-syrian-refugees/index.html6 Accenture World Bank Report, Identification for Development (ID4D) Integration Approach7 Article 29 Data Protection Working Party, Fifth Annual Report, http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/article-29/documentation/

annual-report/files/2002/wp54_2_en.pdf8 Accenture digital borders survey, 2014, https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-accenture-digital-borders-survey-infographic.aspx

73%believe using biometrics to verify the identity of everyone crossing borders would increase security

62%of citizens would share biometric data to improve border security

58%of citizens say they would share biometrics information to make border processing faster and more efficient

Citizen survey on the use of biometrics

5Empowering border management agencies to aid refugees

Collaborate dynamically to better serve refugees’ needs

As more displaced persons seek refuge in neighboring countries and crisscross internal Schengen area country borders, border management agencies need to help facilitate their journey—whether that is returning home, settling in the country where they land or relocating them within another host country. Once refugees are enrolled, EU countries and agencies can collaborate swiftly to make provision for the right services and long-term benefits. In the same way that fast identification brings its own rewards, being able to determine what benefits and services refugees need and improving the documentation to support them can mean rapid resolution of the anxiety and fear that is often associated with displacement. It also means border staff can offer an easier route to finding permanent solutions—ones that are fully integrated with existing systems and the needs of the country for the long term.

Tony Smith CBE, CEO at Fortinus Global and formerly Director of the United Kingdom Border Force, recognized the momentum behind biometrics to establish identity when he said: “What we need is a border management system that can establish both identity and entitlement—at least half of that can now be taken away by biometrics.”9 The use of biometrics to establish a strong identity, coupled with a case management system to determine entitlement to benefits, lies at the heart of effective identity management.

Some countries are already realizing the benefits. In May 2015, the United Nationals High Commissioner for Refugees announced a global biometric identity system for registering and verifying the identities of displaced persons around the world. The system, developed by Accenture, enables the enrollment and formal identification of people resident in disparate refugee camps. To date, more than 450,000 refugees have been processed in Chad, Thailand, and Malawi.10

Such a solution could be quickly and effectively adapted across Europe to tackle the identification of refugees in a highly distributed, large-scale manner.

Manage identity to mitigate ongoing risks to safety and security

Refugees are often at their most vulnerable during the migration process. Having charged exorbitant fees, traffickers may leave refugees stranded or pack them into boats that are inadequately manned or lack safety measures. More than 6,000 people have died over the past two years making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean according to the International Office for Migration.11 And those that survive still face risks. According to Steven Corliss, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Director of Program and Management Support: “Refugees are people who have lost their homes and their communities. Fleeing across borders, they often leave documentation behind, lose it along the way or have it confiscated by authorities.”12 Using advanced technologies, border agencies can secure and preserve the identity of refugees from the time they register until they find a solution.

Improved identity means the potential for fraud is reduced as refugees are able to prove their history and better integrate with the asylum country. Using systems such as EURODAC that facilitates which member state is responsible for any asylum claim, and robust identification solutions, border management agencies are empowered to offer protection. Currently, EURODAC not only maintains biometric samples for law enforcement purposes to combat crimes such as murder and terrorism, but also is fully compatible with the latest asylum legislation.13

Of course, not everyone crossing our borders has good intentions. There are terrorists who choose to pose as refugees. What is more, there is a fine line between protecting refugees and maintaining human rights. Under EU law, registration procedures include taking fingerprints. To help authorities ensure fingerprinting practices do not violate fundamental rights, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has produced a 10-point checklist for rights compliance in its latest focus paper.14

In summary, there are positive, forward-thinking benefits in applying identity as an enabler—solutions for the long term, better allocation of scarce resources, and increased safety and security.

6 Empowering border management agencies to aid refugees

9 DefenceIQ, October 2015 http://www.defenceiq.com/defence-technology/articles/how-the-eu-migration-wrisis-will-transform-border/?utm_source=1-6361871014&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=15+10+06+DFIQ+NL&utm_term=DFIQNL&utm_content=DFIQNL&mac=DFIQ1-3GJ70A9&disc

10 News Release, https://newsroom.accenture.com/industries/systems-integration-technology/united-nations-high-commissioner-for-refugees-and-accenture-deliver-global-biometric-identity-management-system-to-aid-displaced-persons.htm

11 Sunday Times, October 2015

12 News Release, https://newsroom.accenture.com/industries/systems-integration-technology/united-nations-high-commissioner-for-refugees-and-accenture-deliver-global-biometric-identity-management-system-to-aid-displaced-persons.htm

13 European Commission Migration and Home Affairs, http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/asylum/identification-of-applicants/index_en.htm

14 “Fundamental rights implications of the obligation to provide fingerprints for Eurodac,“ European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, October 2015, http://fra.europa.eu/en/news/2015/making-asylum-fingerprinting-rights-compliant

7Empowering border management agencies to aid refugees

In May 2015, the United Nationals High Commissioner for Refugees announced a global biometric identity system for registering and verifying the identities of displaced persons around the world. The system, developed by Accenture, enables the enrollment and formal identification of people resident in disparate refugee camps. To date, more than 450,000 refugees have been processed in Chad, Thailand, and Malawi.

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