Abstract
ABSTRACT My article focuses on the pilot of a Biometric Identity Management System (BIMS) for the distribution on in-kind aid in Kakuma refugee camp, in Kenya’s Turkana county, to examine the perception of biometric systems of verification by refugees. It explores how Somali refugees reflect on the implications of BIMS for their relations vis-à-vis humanitarian organizations, the Kenya state and other refugees, making sense of the humanitarian rationality tasked with both managing and policing populations in need. It thus argues that biopolitical technologies such as biometrics highlight, and heighten, the tension between care and surveillance as refugees challenge the official motives behind biometric infrastructures with counter-narratives situated in a specific socio-political milieu. Through an intense interpretative labor, which I captured in interviews and focus group discussions in Kakuma and Eastleigh, Nairobi, refugees open a crack in the apolitical veneer of humanitarianism, revealing, and challenging, the politics of biometrics.
Highlights
In June 2013, UNHCR and World Food Program (WFP) launched the pilot of a Biometric Identity Management System (BIMS) for the distribution of in-kind aid in a sector of Kakuma refugee camp, in Kenya’s Turkana county
These announcements further reinforced the perception of BIMS as an instrument to prevent those who would be transferred to Somalia from re-entering Kenya and seeking assistance again as refugees
Two main themes emerged from my ethnography: 1) the shift to a biometric system of identification was largely perceived as a constraint to refugees’ agency and instrumental to tighten control on refugee mobility; 2) the implications of the efficiency logic underlying the deployment of the biometric system of identification were viewed as alarming by historically marginalized groups within the Somali refugee community, who feared that their condition of subordination could be exacerbated
Summary
In June 2013, UNHCR and World Food Program (WFP) launched the pilot of a Biometric Identity Management System (BIMS) for the distribution of in-kind aid in a sector of Kakuma refugee camp, in Kenya’s Turkana county. The launch of the pilot had spread anxiety among refugees in Kakuma 3 and beyond.. In meetings held in community centers, refugee leaders expressed their concerns to the UNHCR field officers who were explaining the logic behind this biometric transition. In October 2013, I attended two such meetings, one in Kakuma 1 and another in Kakuma 3. In both gatherings, elderly Somali refugees were vocal. At the time of my fieldwork, Somalis were the second largest population of the camp after South Sudanese refugees.. At the time of my fieldwork, Somalis were the second largest population of the camp after South Sudanese refugees. Aid workers were taken aback when some elders suggested accompanying the introduction of the biometric registration with an increase in food
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
