In-Depth
Humanitarian Technology
The promises and risks of new technology in disaster response.
A curated collection of IRIN reporting.
New technologies are continually changing the way emergency relief efforts are carried out. From mobile money to drones, satellite monitoring to biometrics, the humanitarian aid system is adapting to the ongoing revolution in communications and computing.
As our coverage illustrates, the humanitarian community is occasionally an innovator, more often a late adopter. Success stories of efficiency and effectiveness are mixed with tales of false dawns and unintended consequences. All, though, may help inform future efforts.
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Feature
“Do no digital harm”
17 October 2018Analysis
Aid agencies rethink personal data as new EU rules loom
18 January 2018News
Audit exposes UN food agency’s poor data-handling
18 January 2018Opinion
Humanitarian data breaches: the real scandal is our collective inaction
8 December 2017Investigations
Leading software used by aid agencies "insecure" - report
27 November 2017Opinion
Fingerprinting the Rohingya
23 October 2017Investigations
Spies Sans Frontières?
7 March 2016Opinion
Software is taking over whole industries, and the aid business will not be exempt.
11 July 2016Analysis
Bots and bombs: Does cyberspace need a “Digital Geneva Convention”?
15 November 2017Opinion
Eyes Wide Shut: The biometrics challenge
26 August 2015Opinion
Game of Drones
24 February 2015Feature
Satellites and human rights
23 January 2015Special Report
Surveillance for good? Facebook tracks disaster victims
8 June 2017Analysis
Bitcoin for good?
5 October 2015Analysis
Counting under fire: Syria's casualties
27 October 2015Feature
The UN is trialling refugee benefits on a single card in Lebanon
2 November 2016Analysis
Eye spy: biometric aid system trials in Jordan
18 May 2016Analysis
SDGs and the dangers of data
25 September 2015Feature
Techno-utopian solutions to Syria’s refugee crisis fall short
11 April 2017News
Fewer aid worker attacks. Good news?
13 July 2015Analysis
Two cheers for UN transparency
28 June 2017Feature
Aid Worker Attacks: The Methodology
13 July 2015Analysis
Pitfalls of “big data” for aid workers
27 May 2013Analysis
Bringing drones down to earth
12 May 2015Analysis
Telecom-led relief in the Philippines
29 November 2013Feature
Typhoon Grindr
8 September 2015Feature
Syrian aid in the tech age
14 November 2013Special Report
How a fingerprint can change an asylum seeker’s life
21 November 2017
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