Our Latest Articles

UNHCR Population Registration and Identity Management EcoSystem, PRIMES was officially launched in October in the Kingdom of Lesotho, by the Minister of Home Affairs.

Refugees use smartphones and social media in five primary ways – communication, translation, information, navigation and representation – and despite the myriad of ways in which they make a refugee’s journey easier, these tools are not without their downfalls.

In India, digital identification systems deliver immediate benefits, facilitating a huge increase in financial inclusion and reducing corruption. The “India Stack”, a digital infrastructure that was built as a public good, provides people with the tools to leverage their data.

Watch this space to learn more about UNHCR request for proposal on digital identity for refugees.

The World Economic Forum convened on 26 September its network of specialists from public and private sectors for an Impact Summit. A high level panel – which included UNHCR’s Deputy High Commissioner – discussed on what WEF has labelled good digital identity.

The World Food Programme (WFP)  is presenting seven new technologies – one of which is UNHCR’s biometric system used in Jordan – that have the power to transform humanitarian assistance. Watch this clip with Robert Opp, Director of Innovation and Change for WFP.

On 28 September, a delegation comprised of the World Bank Group, UNHCR and the Government of Denmark representatives visited UN City to discuss the establishment of a Joint Data Centre on forced displacement.

The High Commissioner’s OpEd in the Financial Times on why the private sector is vital in the refugee response focuses on innovative mobile network operators that together with UNHCR, national regulators and development actors have brought connectivity to some of the world’s most remote refugee settlements.