EU task force looks to use blockchain for refugee identification
An EU task force is exploring ways of using blockchain technology in the distribution of aid to refugees, to assist with maintaining accurate records. The body was set up earlier this year to look at how dedicated distribution ledger technology could be applied to the management of refugees, and has already spent half of its €850,000 ($1m) budget. In June, the United Nations announced plans to use blockchain technology to distribute aid to refugees in Syria.

The European Union is joining the United Nations in using the Ethereum Blockchain to provide transparent help to refugees.

Details of the latest meeting of the European Parliament this week show its dedicated distributed ledger (DLT) taskforce set up earlier this year has already spent half its €850,000 ($1 mln) budget.

Dubbed the ‘Horizontal Task Force on Distributed Ledger Technology,’ a use case defined in the EU’s latest documentation relates to refugee aid in addition to DLT research.

“One specific use case that ought to be explored is the potential of DLT based solutions for the 10 management of the situation of refugees,” the amendment states.

“Many refugees, and people in refugee-like situations, are unable to prove their identity or access essential services.”

Blockchain, powered by Ethereum, could thus ease the integration process by providing new, more efficient ways of identifying undocumented persons arriving in the EU.

“[...] EU governments in partnerships with other countries and organizations (e.g. NGOs) need innovative solutions to manage increasing flows of migrants and their temporary stay in different countries,” the European Parliament continues.

“DLT applications could lend themselves to such applications on account of their distributed and resilient architecture.”

In June, the United Nations released plans to use Ethereum to distribute aid to refugees in crisis-hit Syria.

Blockchain Refugees’ Several-Year Journey To Government

Ethereum is progressing at breakneck speed with state-sponsored integrations also coming from Russia this week.

Members of the Ethereum Foundation signed a deal with government-owned bank VEB with an eye to increasing knowledge and propagation of Ethereum Blockchain solutions.

Registering refugees on the Blockchain meanwhile has been a focus of industry startups for several years. In 2015, BitNation succeeded in documenting the first such arrivals, at a time when government responses were far from set in stone.

“The refugee crisis in Europe is massive, and will last for years to come with millions of stateless people who can’t open bank accounts, or even take a job, legally,” founder Susanne Tarkowski-Tempelhof told Cointelegraph at the time.

“There’s a huge, and urgent vacuum to fill. The governments won’t do it, because they’re in a political deadlock when it comes to immigration.”