Many humanitarian organisations in Africa are revolutionising their service delivery through new technology. This has become important also in the context of rising migrant numbers.
Although digital tools are useful, I argue that Africa must adopt and use them pragmatically because for migrants, in my opinion, the priority should be improving traditional approaches to managing displaced people, with digital tools adopted only if they add a real value. The digital tools are used in many countries including Ghana, Kenya and Uganda. Biometric data – such as face recognition and fingerprints – is widely used in voucher assistance programmes. One example is the World Food Programme’s Bamba Chakula initiative in Kenya, which provides food and essential services to migrants. In South Africa, the International Committee of the Red Cross’s ReedSafe platform allows migrants to access communications facilities and save electronic copies of their documents. RedSafe incorporates the Protecting Family Links (PFL) service and the Digital Vault. PFL is a free confidential platform linking migrants with their missing relatives. The Digital Vault allows migrants to upload and store important documents such as identity cards, passports and birth certificates in a cloud-type service. The above examples clearly show benefits but there are also dangers in using identity systems that target masses of people. If the risks are ignored, human rights violations and identity theft or digital intrusion will become inevitable. The risks of digital humanitarianism, however, extend beyond identity theft and digital intrusion. For example, governments in border management, counter-terrorism and law enforcement without the affected person’s knowledge can use biometrics collected for humanitarian purposes. Social media is also helpful in displacement contexts but it can also be abused if accountability measures are missing. Misinformation and hate speech are major problems on these platforms in Africa. In South Africa, for example, Operation Dudula, which started as an online campaign against foreigners in 2021, has been used for xenophobic attacks and racial discrimination against migrants. In sum, in my opinion, Africa’s main challenge is to embrace policies that give migrants mobility, access to livelihoods and basic services. Innovative technology will not solve these issues unless there are corresponding policies that safeguard migrants