Sri Lanka advised to build necessary safeguards as digital ID project begins this month

The Sri Lankan government has been told that it must put in place certain safeguards in order to guarantee full sovereign control over its Unique Digital Identity project (SL-UID) ID which is expected to hit the ground running this month.

The caution is contained in an editorial by local newspaper The Sunday Times which calls for clarity on certain aspects in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which the government intends to sign with India regarding the project implementation.

The MoU is expected to be signed this month, Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said in December.

India is helping technically and financially in implementing the national ID project in Sri Lanka which is modelled like the Aadhaar. Last year, the Indian government handed in part funding of $5.4 million for the early stages of the project.

Last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake met to discuss cooperation issues, and highlighted the need to accelerate the implementation of the digital ID project.

“Sri Lanka must not go starry-eyed without building the safeguards against becoming dependent in key sectors of its critical infrastructure—in this instance, its digital infrastructure, especially to an external government-backed entity relinquishing Sri Lanka’s sovereign control,” the editorial asserts.

Sri Lankan NGO the People’s Struggle Alliance makes a similar argument and adds concerns about the introduction of biometric data to the ID cards in a letter to Herath. The group says the deal with India endangers “democratic rights, national security, public security, the state economy, and the sovereignty of the State and its people,” and call for the issuance of digital identity cards by an Indian company to be reviewed.

The Sunday Times editorial also urges Sri Lankan authorities to be careful about personal data security and privacy, warning that even India has had issues related to data breaches with the Aadhaar system.

The advice comes as the government plans to begin the implementation of the project this January, as reported by Daily News. Authorities have emphasized the importance of the project, saying it will facilitate access to a good of services from government and the private sector.

It is part of the country’s digital transformation journey which also seeks to streamline government services. In October last year, President Dissanayake expressed the wish to have the project executed within a time span of 18 months once it effectively begins.

The Indian government is working alongside the Ministry of Digital Economic Affairs, and the Agency for Information and Communication Technology on the project.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  data privacy  |  data protection  |  digital ID  |  digital identity  |  DPI Safeguards Framework  |  India  |  SL-UDI  |  Sri Lanka