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How Blockchain Can Help with The Refugee Crisis SOURCE: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerhuang/2019/01/27/how-blockchain-can-help-with-the-refugee-crisis/#44ac86e86562 Worldwide, a new surge in refugees is occurring. From the southern border of the United States to the Middle East, the number of displaced keeps on growing.  One out of every five refugees estimated to have crossed from Libya to Europe has drowned or disappeared. More than 50 million people are estimated to have been forcibly displaced from their homes. There are more people displaced now than at any other time post-World War 2. How could new technologies and innovations like blockchain and cryptocurrencies help? 1- By helping digitize identity and other essential documents Many of the displaced are stateless and have lax documentation. This is a problem for them in transit and for any future destination countries. The Norwegian Refugee Council noted that 70% of Syrian refugees lacked basic IDs. By creating federated layers of identity, and digitizing records, this problem can be helped. Home countries for refugees often have scattered analog records or haphazard digital ones, lost to calamity or abandoned in flight. While creating the ability for a government to identify everybody within its nation to a minute detail will come with many risks (especially a country in open rebellion), creating federated control structures on the data and forcing technical partnerships for those that steward the data might help balance that power. The blockchain may be a better way than a centralized data store to increase this check and balance. Allowing refugees, the ability to export everything from their credit rating to their health data in an accessible manner can help immigration authorities in safe third countries vet applicants better and will allow for a more easily managed and smooth refugee process when crisis strikes. This doesn’t just extend to personal data on refugees and asylum seekers. The lineup to apply for asylum at the American border for Central American migrants is all done on paper in a de facto centralized fashion by asylum seekers. They line up for sports selectively limited by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It is admirable that the migrants have self-organized and created an organized system with very few resources. However, a paper ledger can be lost, stolen or worse, manipulated. 2- By dealing with inefficient transactions in countries that are hosting asylum seekers in transit and the economic flow back to home countries Mexico, which hosts many Central American asylum seekers, is a society run on cash. Credit cards are not accepted in small shops, and when they are, exorbitant fees often apply, ranging upwards of 10%. Remittance fees for international transfers range as high as 6% for traditional providers like Western Union, meaning that for every $500 sent, $30 is lost to an intermediary. Blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies that reduce transaction fees for cross-border payments (while being stable to volatility) can be implemented to help. This helps reduce costs for refugees sending remittance payments back, and for people looking to donate money to charities working on the ground. 3- Tracking donations to refugee causes and making sure there is accountability and maximum impact per dollar spent Blockchain can help track where donations are going, and help give donors the transparency needed to make sure they are comfortable donating. Organizations like Give Track are already using bitcoin to help facilitate donations. Built by Bit Give, the first 501(c)(3) nonprofit for bitcoin donations, Give Track aims to use blockchain to make the end uses of their donations more transparent to donors. This ensures that donations are transparent, verifiable, and making the most impact possible.  4- Empowering technologists to see what is happening on the ground for themselves The blockchain and cryptocurrency community started with the vision of a world where borders mattered less. It is a global community that interacts with one another, that hosts conferences around the world, and which hosts companies that collaborate seamlessly with one another across different borders. About half of all cryptocurrency companies on startup portal AngelList are open to remote roles, compared to 30% of all other startups. Technologists that transact in cryptocurrencies and those that create blockchain/cryptocurrency companies are in the unique position of venturing outside tech strongholds. They are able to distribute technical expertise and thinking to an array of problems that must be encountered on-the-ground. They can see for themselves firsthand what refugees are going through. 5- Making integration more efficient The immigration system can be made more efficient by blockchain. Digital cash can help new refugees adjust rapidly to their new home and have the economic security to integrate. Blockchain can be used to track courses new immigrants take, and resources they need. Finland, for example, gives refugees pre-authorized digital cards that are linked to the blockchain, integrating financial resources and identification together. — There is no silver bullet to a complex, multifaceted problem like the refugee crisis. New innovation will not change old mindsets or politics by themselves, and neither can technologists understand long-standing human problems by isolating themselves. It will require significant private-public partnerships and sociocultural change to address the core issues that are propelling the refugee crisis. Yet, there are some tangible areas where blockchain and cryptocurrencies can help make a difference.  

SOURCE: https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/refugees-asylum-seekers-and-migrants/ Why do people leave their countries? There are many reasons why it might be too difficult or dangerous for people to stay in their own countries. For example, children, woman and men flee from violence, war, hunger, extreme poverty, because of their sexual or gender orientation, or from the consequences of climate change or other natural disasters. Often people will face a combination of these difficult circumstances. People who leave their countries are not always fleeing danger. They might believe they have a better chance of finding work in another country because they have the education or capital to seek opportunities elsewhere. Others might want to join relatives or friends who are already living abroad. Or they might seek to start or finish their education in another country. There are lots of different reasons for people to start a journey to build a life in a new country. Definitions: What exactly is a refugee, an asylum-seeker and a migrant? The terms “refugee”, “asylum-seeker” and “migrant” are used to describe people who are on the move, who have left their countries and have crossed borders. The terms “migrant” and “refugee” are often used interchangeably but it is important to distinguish between them as there is a legal difference. Who is a refugee? A refugee is a person who has fled their own country because they are at risk of serious human rights violations and persecution there. The risks to their safety and life were so great that they felt they had no choice but to leave and seek safety outside their country because their own government cannot or will not protect them from those dangers. Refugees have a right to international protection. Who is an asylum-seeker? An asylum-seeker is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another country, but who hasn’t yet been legally recognized as a refugee and is waiting to receive a decision on their asylum claim. Seeking asylum is a human right. This means everyone should be allowed to enter another country to seek asylum. Who is a migrant? There is no internationally accepted legal definition of a migrant. Like most agencies and organizations, we at Amnesty International understand migrants to be people staying outside their country of origin, who are not asylum-seekers or refugees. Some migrants leave their country because they want to work, study or join family, for example. Others feel they must leave because of poverty, political unrest, gang violence, natural disasters or other serious circumstances that exist there. Lots of people don’t fit the legal definition of a refugee but could nevertheless be in danger if they went home. It is important to understand that, just because migrants do not flee persecution, they are still entitled to have all their human rights protected and respected, regardless of the status they have in the country they moved to. Governments must protect all migrants from racist and xenophobic violence, exploitation and forced labour. Migrants should never be detained or forced to return to their countries without a legitimate reason.

The Struggle for Equality – Why Girls Lose Out Why Education for Refugees Matters  Source, UNHCR; https://www.unhcr.org/the-struggle-for-equality.html At global level, for every ten refugee boys in primary school there are fewer than eight refugee girls; at secondary school the figure is worse, with fewer than seven refugee girls for every ten refugee boys. Getting a primary education is difficult enough for girls, but obtaining a place in secondary school is harder still. There are fewer secondary schools in most refugee environments and girls frequently lose out. The coping mechanisms to which families often resort in order to bring in money can end a girl’s education chances for good. Culturally, there may be resistance in some communities to the idea of girls staying in school into their teens. Yet the need for girls to remain in school for longer is clear and urgent. Globally, educated mothers are more likely to have smaller, healthier and better educated families. Education has helped reduce the rates of child marriage, teenage pregnancy, and maternal and infant mortality, as well as leading to improvements in child health. Educated mothers are more likely to ensure water is clean, seek help when a child is ill and have their children vaccinated. Since they are more aware of their surroundings, including sources of help as well as of danger, educated women are better equipped to protect their children from threats of all kinds. The need for girls to remain in school for longer is clear and urgent.  In fact, UNESCO estimates that educating mothers to lower secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030 could prevent 3.5 million child deaths between 2050 and 2060. In addition, if all girls were educated at secondary education level, it is estimated that child marriage for girls could fall by almost two-thirds, while 59 per cent fewer girls would become pregnant in sub-Saharan Africa and south and west Asia, which are among the top hosting regions for refugees. The benefits of educating girls are wide reaching. Many girls talk of the new respect they receive in their communities as a result of completing secondary school, giving them the confidence to speak out and to become leaders in their own right. Those who reach higher education, such as Esther, act as much-needed role models for succeeding generations.  Women with a secondary education are more likely to ensure that their own children go to school. At global level, for every ten refugee boys in primary school there are fewer than eight refugee girls; at secondary school the figure is worse, with fewer than seven refugee girls for every ten refugee boys. Among populations where there are significant cultural barriers to girls’ education, the difference is stark. In Pakistan, for example, 47 per cent of Afghan boys are enrolled at primary school, compared with 23 per cent of girls. Dropout rates among Afghan refugee girls are high – 90 per cent in some areas. As a result, the literacy rate for refugee girls and women in Pakistan is less than 8 per cent. This, in turn, means there are fewer female teachers who might encourage more girls to attend school, making it increasingly di cult with each generation to break the cycle. That this is still possible against all the odds, is shown by the story of one dedicated teacher, Aqeela Asifi.