Friday

22nd Sep 2023

Opinion

Could blockchain help EU process asylum claims?

  • The EU's current legal framework for blockchain focuses mostly on cryptocurrency and financial assets without seeing beyond these (Photo: BeatingBetting.co.uk)
Listen to article

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the European Union is once again experiencing an influx of migrants. The 2015 Middle East and North Africa refugee crisis set records, with more than 1.3 million people seeking refuge in the EU.

The ongoing Russian invasion, however, has already seen nearly 5.3 million Ukrainian refugees entering the EU. While there is a distinction between the legal status of Ukrainian migrants and previous waves, migration flows to the EU have been increasing for years and remain an important policy issue.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Entering through different border crossings and dispersing easily across the continent, a key component of which must be addressed is cataloguing migrants. Blockchain technology, with its decentralisation and level of encryption, can provide a comprehensive resolution to this issue, and must be kept in mind by EU policymakers when forming regulations.

Blockchain is a relatively new technology, invented in 2008, mainly to facilitate cryptocurrency transactions.

While that remains a central use, blockchain also has a range of other uses, from addressing global development issues to digitalising public services. Its immutable and distributed nature provides a more secure network than traditional databases, removing the need for intermediaries to guarantee the safety of the stored data.

Digital vs physical ID

This also makes it an important technological advancement in digital ID creation; in contrast to traditional forms of identification, blockchain digital IDs would prevent fraud and protect against identity theft.

The network of IDs would be invulnerable to hacking, and the decentralised ledger means the identifications can be accessed worldwide. In the case of migration and migration policy, this access and guarantee of authenticity is vital in identifying and cataloguing refugees as they arrive at the borders of the EU.

Some progress has already been made applying this technology to migration. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has begun using biometric registration data to track refugees, and the UN World Food Program uses this information to make cash-based transfers in a Jordanian refugee camp through a pilot programme, Blockchain against Hunger.

This approach of digitising identification helps address some of the core challenges that refugees routinely face. With physical IDs, governments store their data centrally on physical servers. This leaves them susceptible to external threats, such as hacking and even state failure.

Once migrants flee their home countries, their access to their government ID becomes severely curtailed, if not completely cut off, leaving them without identification and sometimes stateless.

With blockchain ID programs, identification would instead be stored digitally, accessible to the destination country with the refugees' arrival.

This not only allows the government of their destination country to track and catalogue their new residents, but also gives the refugees easier access to social security programmes. It also relieves some pressure on migrants, allowing them to focus on departing their countries without being concerned about retrieving documents.

EU's narrow crypto focus

The value of using blockchain technology to create and improve digital identification databases is impossible to ignore. It is crucial for EU decisionmakers to consider how overregulation of blockchain may detract from positive benefits. Blockchain's immutable and private nature must be squared with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation.

The EU's current legal framework for blockchain focuses mostly on cryptocurrency and financial assets without seeing beyond these. Ongoing efforts are being made by the European Commission to fight financial crime by logging the identity of both parties involved in transactions to be turned over in the case of any investigations.

Such revelatory policy goes against the core identity of blockchain, and with EU regulation often setting the global standard, other national governments might follow the EU's lead.

This strict regulatory approach, however, could be catastrophic to the potential benefits of blockchain, especially towards migration policy. The goal should be to maximise opportunities that come with the technology and work towards standardising its use while also providing a legal basis to protect users.

Current steps being taken towards regulation send a signal that the EU is not a welcome place for blockchain innovation, an action that will only continue to stifle the growth of the technology. As international borders become more porous, however, the EU's current tactics are not supporting the improvement of its migration policies.

Asylum proceedings are one of the biggest issues with the EU's migration policy, and digital identification through blockchain to register and track refugees would be an instrumental step towards the level of necessary reform.

Overregulation of this new and growing technology poses a risk, not only to the investment potential of the EU as a whole but also to the migration flows across its borders.

The 2015 migration crisis was the first in a surge of asylum seekers, and the influx of Ukrainian refugees have continued to highlight the gaps in the system.

Without smart regulation of blockchain, the European Union will lose the value of the technology before it has a chance to fully realise its potential.

Author bio

Raadhika Tandon is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University (SAIS) where she studied global risk and currently works as a freelance research analyst. She previously worked as a research assistant with the Welsh Parliament.

Disclaimer

The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author's, not those of EUobserver.

EIB warns of €10bn investment gap in AI and blockchain

The European Investment Bank identified an annual investment shortfall of up to €10bn in artificial intelligence and blockchain in the EU - a gap that may hinder the bloc's attempts to catch China and the United States in these sectors.

Germany adopts blockchain strategy and says no to Libra

The German federal government has passed a blockchain strategy designed to unlock the potential of this new technology, in both Germany and Europe, and prevent the risks associated with its implementation.

Europe's energy strategy: A tale of competing priorities

Enhancing energy security empowers nations to heavily invest in renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydroelectric power. But with a stable supply of LNG, Europe can also speed up its shift away from fossil fuels.

Latest News

  1. Europe's energy strategy: A tale of competing priorities
  2. Why Greek state workers are protesting new labour law
  3. Gloves off, as Polish ruling party fights for power
  4. Here's the headline of every op-ed imploring something to stop
  5. Report: Tax richest 0.5%, raise €213bn for EU coffers
  6. EU aid for Africa risks violating spending rules, Oxfam says
  7. Activists push €40bn fossil subsidies into Dutch-election spotlight
  8. Europe must Trump-proof its Ukraine arms supplies

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  2. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  4. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  2. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable
  3. World BankWorld Bank Report Highlights Role of Human Development for a Successful Green Transition in Europe
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic summit to step up the fight against food loss and waste
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersThink-tank: Strengthen co-operation around tech giants’ influence in the Nordics
  6. EFBWWEFBWW calls for the EC to stop exploitation in subcontracting chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us