U.N.’s World Food Programme (WFP) directed resources to thousands of Syrian refugees by giving the refugees cryptocurrency-based vouchers that could be redeemed in participating markets.
The organization is also responsible for one of the largest-ever implementations of the Ethereum blockchain for a charitable cause in recent history. In May 2017, the U.N.’s World Food Programme (WFP) directed resources to thousands of Syrian refugees by giving the refugees cryptocurrency-based vouchers that could be redeemed in participating markets.
The codes of cryptographically unique coupons representing an undisclosed number of Jordanian dinars have been sent to dozens of shops. What it takes from cashiers is just to verify the user’s identity by using eye-scanning hardware. The pilot program alone, which ran for 10,000 Syrian refugees, has been said to save the agency $150,000 a month while eliminating a 98 percent of bank-related transfer fees.
In February 2018, Robert Opp, a director at the World Food Programme, told Bloomberg that the U.N. would expand its blockchain-payments system. The agency expects to cut millions of dollars in bank transfer fees by switching to distributed ledgers based on the Ethereum digital currency network. WFP’s official site mentions that, as of January 2018, more than 100,000 people residing in camps have redeemed assistance through the system. And the next stage of the project will see an expansion to all 500,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan receiving support from the WFP.
And at least six other U.N. agencies — including the U.N. Office for Project Services (UNOPS), the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF), U.N. Women, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the U.N. Development Group (UNDG) — are now considering blockchain applications that could help support international assistance, particularly supply chain management tools, self-auditing of payments, identity management and data storage.
Of course, blockchain can’t solve all of the political problems that immigration policy suffers. It’s just a technological tool — albeit a very ambitious one — and it won’t teach the xenophobes compassion, and won’t guarantee refugees successful cultural integration or create well-paid, meaningful and socially protected job vacancies. It is useful for policy but can’t be a substitute for political will.
We also can’t simply brush off the controversial nature of the degree of control which blockchain promises to the host nations and humanitarian agencies. Decentralized ledger technology (DLT) undeniably takes pride in its crypto-anarchic and cypherpunk roots, and challenges the power we’ve given to governments and financial systems. Thus, we can’t question something illiberal in those biocontrol capacities that blockchain could help obtain for governmental immigration agencies.
Immigration probably won’t become a less problematic topic any time soon, as long as we have wars, hunger and inequality — not to mention the looming threats of climate change — and the lack of a final philosophical solution to the question of borders and national welfare. But what blockchain could do is to help refugees get more transparent and generous financial aid, save their vital documents and track the process of applications without any human mistakes. That sounds like a good package for a start.
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