Ethical Issues Arising Through Identification and Registration Systems Applied in a European Refugee Camp

摘要

The refugee crisis in 2015 was one of the biggest challenges for the European Union. The refugee camps had to face an enormous organization and coordination effort in several Member States. Furthermore, no standardized way for registering and identifying refugees in European refugee camps was present. Each Member State had and still have different IT systems and methods to coordinate refugees in their territory. Hence, the authors already proposed a standardized refugee management system applicable in European refugee camps. This concept suggests the application of QR code bracelets for registering refugees when arriving in front of the camp. This requirement was the source of several discussions about ethical issues that can apply when giving refugees ID bracelets. This paper describes these ethical issues that can arise using such an identification method. With the aid of a quantitative survey, done with refugees and non-governmental organizations, the authors identified the fundamental issue that causes this dilemma. Furthermore, this paper describes possible solutions which may reduce the negative impact provoked by such identification and registration systems.