Digital ID solutions for displaced populations addressed at UN

Civitas ID, the digital identity platform developed for displaced populations, launched during the 80th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.

At the landmark gathering, Colin Walsh, founder of Civitas ID; Amit Sharma, head of digital strategy, Idemia; and Keyzom Ngodup Massally, head of digital and AI programmes, UNDP, were on hand to talk through the new digital ID. Sharma sits on Civitas ID’s global advisory council.

The “Invisible Billion: Bridging the Global Identity Divide” panel addressed the more than 123 million displaced people who currently face barriers to economic participation due to documentation gaps, according to the organization.

“The visibility crisis is really one of the most profound issues of our time,” Walsh said.

War or conflict; a fire or other natural disaster, the increased severity and frequency of such events like flooding or storms, cause humans to leave these areas quickly and often with little time to prepare. And when such people have to cross borders, they find themselves without identity documents to prove who they are, unable to access basic services, and left in limbo.

This is the invisibility crisis and it’s what Civitas ID hopes to help resolve.

Massally noted that this crisis is being experienced by millions all over the world. Like many other living things with whom we share this planet, humans have to move and migrate in search of safer conditions, for food and shelter, and to seek conditions that can support flourishing. But people who cross borders face different jurisdictions, which creates invisibility. “One moment when you have identity, and another moment when you don’t,” the UNDP head said.

Massally has personal experience of this, sharing that for the first 17 years of her life she herself was an invisible person, a refugee. “I remember having my first identity and feeling like, ‘my god, I exist’ and it means so much,” Massally said.

The moderator, Ana Carcani Rold, CEO and founder of Diplomatic Courier, noted that the technology already exists, but asked what did it mean to have a human-centric approach to identity, which she put to Sharma of Idemia.

“Identity equals dignity,” he said. It means access and security, and with these three elements at the core of privacy by design and identity as part of the mix. Sharma noted that smartphone penetration and usage has gone up in many places, sometimes even faster than some infrastructure, such as clean water supply.

But this comes with downsides. While access to digital services increases it also means a commensurate increase in threat vectors. As the smartphone is fitted with a computer processor, an operating system, a camera and a modem to connect to the Internet, the capability to match to an identity document (if the person has one), to issue credentials, and to verify via biometrics, exists.

How do I enable that identity access, that credential, to an individual to access a critical service when they need it in ways, and this is important, that doesn’t also get exploited?,” Sharma said, rhetorically.

Personal identity attributes are a vector that can be exploited by bad actors. These could be scammers, fraudsters, political activists with their own agendas, criminals, and so on. Privacy by design and credentials is the approach that can negate such threats, he said. Displaced populations are a “very vulnerable segment” Rold pointed out.

Learnings from Columbia, cross-border data sharing

Walsh emphasized that Civitas ID is not looking to create a parallel identity. The founder spoke about a recent trip to Columbia where there is a significant number of Venezuelans who have identity documents. But they need credentials in order to engage in society, by opening their own businesses, and to work, but need those credentials integrated into the digital public infrastructure (DPI) of the country they find themselves in.

“So that they can be unlocked instantly through a localized, portable digital wallet that carries those credentials for them.”

“It’s really this credentialing capability that unlocks access to these essential services, is what Civitas ID is all about,” explained Walsh.

Invited to bring up a case study, Walsh elaborated on Columbia, describing a progressive policy in welcoming migrants, but that barriers are numerous in reality, from operational ones to the lack of employment and credit history for the new arrivals.

“So we have to help them reconstitute that and then work with partners that have digital wallets for payments and remittances, that can make loans, that can offer business access, and other things,” Walsh said.

Building a platform to create those identity credentials and integrating with such providers to enable substantial amounts of the population to engage economically is part of the mission.

Massally mentioned “jurisdiction permissions” will need to be worked on, and that to orchestrate the solution will be really difficult. Cross-border data sharing is a tough area, especially when considering how to implement data protections. In previous talks, such as by Andrew Hopkins from UNHCR at MOSIP Connect 2025, experts have noted that refugees fleeing certain countries may not want their personal details shared with the regimes they’ve escaped from.

Permission and access is key, Sharma said as the panel drew to its conclusion. Building a robust, multi-stakeholder coalition will be important to unlocking human potential as aid is being cut, Walsh said.

Massally broadened the view. While sovereignty is often invoked in terms of governments and national jurisdictions, the former refugee said a reframe to “individual sovereignty” is what’s needed in the invisibility crisis.

You can watch the full panel on the UN Web TV site here.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  Civitas ID  |  digital ID  |  identity document  |  identity management  |  legal identity  |  refugee registration  |  SDG 16.9  |  United Nations