IrisGuard iris recognition technology enrolls over 1.6M Syrian refugees

IrisGuard announced that its EyeBank iris recognition technology has successfully enrolled online over 1.6 million Syrian refugees displaced throughout the bordering countries.

The move comes more than a year after the United National High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR) adopted IrisGuard’s iris recognition identity technology to bolster its proGres Refugee Registration Platform.

The humanitarian EyeBank project, which is operated by an international aid agency, is the world’s largest iris deployment designed to provide financial inclusion services to Syrian refugees.

The iris database is used in a range of refugee services — such as financial, social and food — by the aid agency and its affiliated non-governmental organizations throughout the MENA region.

IrisGuard’s patented technology uses the iris’ numerous characteristics to deliver accurate, fast and secure human payment methods.

The agency initially chose IrisGuard for its strong iris recognition technology (IRT) enrollment, recognition, high quality and scalability, in consideration that the technology had to operate under harsh conditions in refugee camps and urban areas throughout the region.

The aid agency has been able to use the massively scalable backend EyeBank software architecture to grow its operations with hundreds of IrisGuard stations tightly integrated within its registration software.

Under IrisGuard’s onetime enrollment process, refugees can be enrolled in about 2-3 seconds, enabling them to seek asylum in another country. The technology is expected to play a significant role in the family repatriation process once the crisis has subsided.

The unified regional iris repository is centralized at a regional center operated by the aid agency.

This enables the agency to instantly execute cross-country operational transactions within a few seconds, regardless of where the refugee is located, to accurately determine the size and composition of refugee populations.

“The Syrian crisis is the world’s first ever cross-border iris enabled humanitarian relief registration and financial inclusion program,” said Imad Malhas, CEO of IrisGuard Inc. “To have enrolled over 1.6 million refugees so far is a testimony of IrisGuard leadership, competencies and innovative technology. We are sincerely grateful to have the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of refugees at these difficult times.”

Article Topics

banking  |  biometric enrollment  |  biometrics  |  IrisGuard  |  refugee registration  |  social security  |  Syria