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Cited by 107Ethics and Social Impacts of AIMigration and Exile StudiesMigration, Racism, and Human Rights

The Biometric Assemblage: Surveillance, Experimentation, Profit, and the Measuring of Refugee Bodies

Madianou, Mirca·2019·Television & New Media
DOI 10.1177/1527476419857682
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Abstract

Biometric technologies are routinely used in the response to refugee crises with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) aiming to have all refugee data from across the world in a central population registry by the end of 2019. The article analyzes biometrics, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain as part of a technological assemblage, which I term the biometric assemblage. The article identifies five intersecting logics that explain wider transformations within the humanitarian sector and in turn shape the biometric assemblage. The acceleration of the rate of biometric registrations in the humanitarian sector between 2002 and 2019 reveals serious concerns regarding bias, data safeguards, data-sharing practices with states and commercial companies, experimentation with untested technologies among vulnerable people, and, finally, ethics. Technological convergence amplifies risks associated with each constituent technology of the biometric assemblage. The article finally argues that the biometric assemblage accentuates asymmetries between refugees and humanitarian agencies and ultimately entrenches inequalities in a global context.

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Authors
Madianou, M.
Affiliations
Goldsmiths University of London (GB)
Corresponding author
Madianou, Mirca
ORCID
Madianou, Mirca
Venue
Television & New Media
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2019-07-02
Volume
20
Issue
6
Pages
581-599
ISSN
  • 1527-4764 (ISSN-L)
  • 1552-8316
DOI
10.1177/1527476419857682
OpenAlex
W2954000063
Cited by
107
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 2
FWCI
18.79
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Television & New Media (publishedVersion)
  • Goldsmiths (University of London) (acceptedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Safety Research › Ethics and Social Impacts of AI
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration and Exile Studies
  • Social Sciences › Health › Migration, Racism, and Human Rights
Keywords
biometrics, refugee registration, refugee crisis, artificial intelligence, blockchain, humanitarian technology, UNHCR, surveillance, data ethics, algorithmic bias, technology convergence, power imbalance

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