The ID2020-backed Biometric Identification Program will showcase a new “digital identity” program for refugee newborn babies, deployed in close coordination with a Wall Street charity affiliated with prominent Western politicians whose workers are accused of sexual exploitation refugee children.
iRespond has piloted a new biometric program for refugee infants, predominantly based in Karen, a suburb of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, but which is soon to be “quickly rolled out” on a larger scale, making it available to the world's population. The pilot program was launched as part of the controversial ID2020 project, supported by Microsoft, the GAVI partnership (a partnership of a number of private and government organizations, the purpose of which is to increase the availability of childhood vaccinations in poor countries; founded by the FBMH) and the Rockefeller Foundation, as well as the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a non-profit an organization closely affiliated with Western political elites and Wall Street, with a dubious history of silencing multiple allegations of sexual abuse and fraud.
The new program is a follow-up to iRespond's “voluntary” biometric identification program at the Mae Lo refugee camp (a refugee camp in Thailand, founded in 1984 in Ta Song Yan District, Tak Province, in the Dawna Ridge Region, and houses 50,000 refugees from Karen; the number continues to grow since June 2019. Is the largest Karen refugee camp in Thailand), "will create a birth record certified by a trusted clinic in order to change the trajectory of the participants' lives." With the help of the program “a guardian relationship is established between the newborn and the mother, associated with digital and highly secure physical identity documents”.
However, iRespond CEO Scott Reid told Biometric Update that these credentials “do not carry the same weight as a valid birth certificate,” but argues that a “birth certificate” biometric program can overcome traditional barriers to identification. “While iRespond's quasi-birth certificates appear to be of little use in areas where actual birth certificates are readily available, the organization notes that“as soon as the pilot is complete, iRespond is ready to quickly deploy this solution.”For mass use around the world. “Product development” to tailor its platform for newborns began earlier this year, and Reed notesthat having iRespond's biometric “birth attestation” will allow “access to vital services such as health care, social protection, education and banking”.
The pilot program is conducted at the Mae Tao Clinic (a non-governmental organization that has been providing primary health care and protection to the Burma / Myanmar population in Western Thailand since 1989), which is largely funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID; works closely with the CIA), as well as the governments of Germany and Taiwan, the Open Society Foundations (an international charitable organization established by the financier and philanthropist George Soros) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC, International Rescue Committee; is a global non-governmental organization providing humanitarian aid, aid and development). IRC is very actively involved in the day to day functions of the clinic (funded by the USAID project),and is also actively involved in iRespond's digital identity program, including its new pilot program for newborns and its previous work to provide biometric identification to Mei Luo residents.
Food or sovereignty
The work of iRespond at Mei Luo with IRC was first announced by the ID2020 Alliance in September 2018. The ID2020-funded pilot program, the announcement says, was to be “led by iRespond, an Alliance partner, and run in close collaboration with IRC.” The program aimed to provide biometric identification for the 35,000 people in the area, and the new program aims to ensure that children born in the camp are, by default, enrolled in the program right from birth. The announcement specifically notes that “the pilot will provide blockchain-based digital identities associated with individual users through iris recognition to provide refugees with access to IRC services at Mei Luo Camp. Having a “digital ID” will allow refugees to “gain access to improved, consistent health care in the camp,” with the prospect of creating a similar system to provide “electronic documentation of educational levels and skills to assist with employment”.
Promotional video:
Migrant workers cross the Thai-Myanmar border in a service truck from Mae Sot in Tak province in northern Thailand. Photo: AFP / Ye Aung Thu.
A year later, the program, presented in an extended review in Newsweek, was labeled “just the first step in equipping the entire population of the refugee camp with safe and portable digital wallets that will store not only their medical records, but also their educational and professional skills., the history of camp work and many other records”, allegedly including financial activities. This is especially likely given that iRespond is partnering with Mastercard, another ID2020 partner with close ties to the company, Trust Stamp, a biometric identification platform that also serves as a vaccination card storage and payment system. In addition, IRC's strategic plans for Mei Luo until 2020 include “the development of micro-enterprises and local savings and credit associations”,such as those proposed by Kiva Microfunds (partner ID2020; American non-profit organization that provides the opportunity to issue interest-free loans directly from lenders to borrowers; its mission is to fight poverty by enabling entrepreneurs to receive funds to implement ideas, becoming financially independent) that link biometric identification with obtaining credits.which link biometric identification with obtaining loans.which link biometric identification with obtaining loans.
The iRespond system, like the Trust Stamp, should function as a vaccination card. Larry Dore, iRespond's South East Asia chief of operations, told Reuters in April that "a biometric identification system can keep track of such people [who test positive for Covid-19] and those who are vaccinated." Dor added that “we can biometrically identify a person and link him to the test results as well as to a high security document. Thus, the person will have irrefutable proof that he is immune due to the antibodies in his body.” Such "proof" Dor calls "a very valuable certificate."
Notably, in press releases and news reports, iRespond executives emphasize that their biometric identification system, based on iris scanning and powered by Microsoft, will “protect privacy” and allow “control and ownership of the owner's identity”. However, the Mei Luo project does not provide this level of control and accountability, and Newsweek notes that “ultimately [iRespond and its representatives] are committed to offering refugees a level of highly granular control and control over what personal information they share with others.” In other words, such control over personal information has not yet been granted to people, despite the public announcement that this functionality is a core component of the iRespond system.
What's particularly notable about iRespond and IRC's digital identity work is that while it is a “voluntary” program, underprivileged refugees seeking access to healthcare and other services provided by IRC in the area, including access to clean water, must scan their irises to use these services. It is highly likely that these people are not only unaware of any potential risks of submitting their biometrics for use in a pilot program, but are not stable enough to make an informed decision on this matter, as their precarious situation will lead to the fact that that they will choose the medical care they need, and so on, rather than protecting their privacy. More and more factors indicatethat the Mei Luo camp was chosen as a pilot site because its residents are unlikely to be able to opt out, given that access to healthcare and other basic needs provided by the IRC is like hanging bait available only with participation in the iRespond voluntary biometric identification program.
This program is remarkably similar to the recently implemented World Food Program (the world's largest humanitarian organization providing about 4 million tons of food annually. WFP was founded in 1963 as a food aid agency in the UN system. It is tasked with helping the poor in developing countries, fighting hunger and poverty) the Building Blocks initiative, which is funded by the governments of the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Building Blocks uses a blockchain-based biometric identification system “to empower refugees to access and dispose of the cash aid they receive” in Syrian refugee camps in Jordan. Now “more than 100,000 people living in camps can buy food,scanning the iris at the checkout. Those who do not participate cannot access their WFP “cash benefits” as they are provided exclusively through this biometric system, leaving refugees with a choice between providing their biometrics and receiving food.
Equally remarkable is the fact that those who financially support projects in the Mei Lo camp and similar projects, especially the ID2020 Alliance, “hope” that iRespond's experience at Mei Lo will someday be applied globally. Indeed, Newsweek notes that “many of the sponsors [of the Mei Luo project] are part of the alliance known as the ID2020 Alliance, which includes Accenture (a consulting firm that provides strategic planning, optimization and business process outsourcing consulting services to organizations)., Customer Relationship Management, Logistics Management, Human Resource Management, Information Technology Implementation), Microsoft and the Rockefeller Foundation hope that Mae Luo's project will ultimately serve the interests of millions of stateless people.citizens of developed countries, and everyone else”.
Biometric Corpus
According to the rather laconic website iRespond, their biometric identification platform "primarily relies on iris biometrics, the best modality after DNA for accuracy and reliability." The platform is further described as follows:
The iRespond platform also “integrates seamlessly with healthcare, humanitarian aid, research and human rights applications,” and has been used to provide refugees and other vulnerable populations with access to food, health care and other forms of assistance provided by foreign NGOs working in these regions. … It has also been used to track participants in drug clinical trials. The iRespond platform in the latter case was used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; a federal agency of the US Department of Health, created in 1946). Its role is to provide information to improve health decisions) in conjunction with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health (both partners with iRespond) to track participants in HIV treatment trials in Senegal, as well as additional Johns Hopkins research in South Africa. It was also used to track recipients of the controversial HIV vaccine in Sierra Leone “to track patients who have not completed their vaccine regimen”.
It is also used among “vulnerable groups” in Myanmar by the NGO Population Services International (PSI) to “track demographics and when HIV tests are positive”. By analyzing these details, “we are identifying which groups are most vulnerable to infection,” says a PSI spokesman in Myanmar.
The non-profit organization's platform is powered by its main technical partner and another ID2020 member, Microsoft. The iRespond platform “couldn't exist without the cloud,” according to its CEO Scott Reed, and Microsoft is giving iRespond a $ 60,000 grant to its Azure cloud, allowing the organization to use it for free. In addition, Microsoft donated iRespond 39 tablets that the organization uses in various locations “to provide flexibility in this area.” “The number of people we have helped has grown rapidly from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, and we look forward to working soon on behalf of many millions of people. These Microsoft tools help make that happen,”said Larry Dor of iRespond on his Microsoft profile.
Eric Rasmussen.
Eric Rasmussen, President and Chairman of the Board of iRespond, is an extremely interesting character who is quite outspoken about the reasons for creating iRespond. “When you understand who a person is, you understand what they are entitled to, whether it be national citizenship, international refugee support or simply food distribution,” Rasmussen told Microsoft last year.
In addition to a key role at iRespond, Rasmussen is a professor at the Google-backed Singularity University (Singularity University is a privately held company that is simultaneously a university, think tank, business incubator and venture capital fund) and chairman of the board of InSTEDD,”a global non-governmental organization specializing in humanities especially in the area of health care in resource-poor economies”, which partners with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, CDC, Google and UNICEF (an international organization under the auspices of the United Nations. UNICEF operates with contributions from governments and private donors. UNICEF's total income for 2015 was $ 5,009,557,471. Governments provide two-thirds of the organization's needs). In addition, Rasmussen is also the CEO of a profit-for-purpose company called Infinitum Humanitarian Systems (IHS). IHS works closely with USAID and the Department of State, as well as the US military intelligence agencies and the intelligence and defense contractor, Booz Allen Hamilton (the company's core business is to provide consulting, analytical and engineering services for organizations and nonprofit organizations in the public and private sectors) … Prior to joining iRespond, IHS and InSTEDD, Rasmussen was Principal Humanitarian Informatics Researcher for the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and has been involved in hostilities in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan on several occasions. Rasmussen is also the CEO of a profit-for-purpose company called Infinitum Humanitarian Systems (IHS). IHS works closely with USAID and the Department of State, as well as the US military intelligence agencies and the intelligence and defense contractor, Booz Allen Hamilton (the company's core business is to provide consulting, analytical and engineering services for organizations and nonprofit organizations in the public and private sectors) … Prior to joining iRespond, IHS, and InSTEDD, Rasmussen was Principal Humanitarian Informatics Researcher for the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and has been involved in hostilities in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan on several occasions. Rasmussen is also the CEO of a profit-for-purpose company called Infinitum Humanitarian Systems (IHS). IHS works closely with USAID and the Department of State, as well as the US military intelligence agencies and the intelligence and defense contractor, Booz Allen Hamilton (the company's core business is providing consulting, analytical and engineering services to organizations and nonprofit organizations in the public and private sectors) … Prior to joining iRespond, IHS and InSTEDD, Rasmussen was Principal Humanitarian Informatics Researcher for the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and has been involved in hostilities in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan on several occasions.
Predatory "charity"
More worrisome than iRespond's backstory and connections are data from their partner, the International Rescue Committee (IRC), on the recently announced Biometric Neonatal Identification Initiative. The IRC describes itself as an organization that responds "to the world's worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives have been devastated by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future."
Despite the fact that IRC bills itself as a "humanitarian" enterprise, its board is filled with a hideous mixture of Wall Street criminals and war criminals. For example, his board is chaired by Timothy Geithner, former Treasury Secretary during the 2008 financial crisis and current president of Wall Street Titan Warburg-Pincus (a New York-based private equity firm that focuses on growth by investing in offices in the US, Europe, Brazil, China, Southeast Asia and India. She is a private investor since 1966), and Susan Susman, executive vice president of Pfizer (Pfizer; an American pharmaceutical company, one of the largest in the world. The company produces the most popular in world drug Lipitor; this drug is used to lower blood cholesterol levels,for the period from 1997 to 2012 it was sold for $ 125 billion). The advisory board includes war criminals Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, as well as Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell. Also present are current and former executives and senior executives from McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Kroll Associates (“CIA Wall Street”), PepsiCo, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the World Bank. Another advisor is the former chairman and CEO of American International Group (an international insurance and financial corporation operating in more than 80 countries. One of the world leaders in the field of personal and property insurance) Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, whose name is probably well known to those who have investigated the 9/11 attacks and financial crimes on Wall Street in general. The advisory board includes war criminals Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, as well as Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell. Also present are current and former executives and senior executives from McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Kroll Associates (“CIA Wall Street”), PepsiCo, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the World Bank. Another advisor is the former chairman and CEO of American International Group (an international insurance and financial corporation operating in more than 80 countries. One of the world leaders in the field of personal and property insurance) Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, whose name is probably well known to those who have investigated the 9/11 attacks and financial crimes on Wall Street in general. The advisory board includes war criminals Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, as well as Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell. Also present are current and former executives and senior executives of McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Kroll Associates (“CIA Wall Street”), PepsiCo, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the World Bank. Another advisor is the former chairman and CEO of the American International Group (an international insurance and financial corporation operating in more than 80 countries around the world. One of the world leaders in the field of personal and property insurance) Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, whose name is probably well known to those who have investigated the 9/11 attacks and financial crimes on Wall Street in general.as well as Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell. Also present are current and former executives and senior executives of McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Kroll Associates (“CIA Wall Street”), PepsiCo, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the World Bank. Another advisor is the former chairman and CEO of the American International Group (an international insurance and financial corporation operating in more than 80 countries around the world. One of the world leaders in the field of personal and property insurance) Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, whose name is probably well known to those who have investigated the 9/11 attacks and financial crimes on Wall Street in general.as well as Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell. Also present are current and former executives and senior executives from McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Kroll Associates (“CIA Wall Street”), PepsiCo, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the World Bank. Another advisor is the former chairman and CEO of the American International Group (an international insurance and financial corporation operating in more than 80 countries around the world. One of the world leaders in the field of personal and property insurance) Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, whose name is probably well known to those who have investigated the 9/11 attacks and financial crimes on Wall Street in general. Citigroup and the World Bank. Another advisor is the former chairman and CEO of American International Group (an international insurance and financial corporation operating in more than 80 countries. One of the world leaders in the field of personal and property insurance) Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, whose name is probably well known to those who have investigated the 9/11 attacks and financial crimes on Wall Street in general. Citigroup and the World Bank. Another advisor is the former chairman and CEO of American International Group (an international insurance and financial corporation operating in more than 80 countries. One of the world leaders in the field of personal and property insurance) Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, whose name is probably well known to those who have investigated the 9/11 attacks and financial crimes on Wall Street in general.
Since 2013, the IRC has been chaired by David Miliband, Tony Blair's "protégé", who was once described by Bill Clinton as "one of the brightest, most creative civil servants of our time," and who worked closely with then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. As British Foreign Secretary, Miliband was so close to the Clintons that he was considered a candidate for “high government office in the United States” if Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election.
In the years since joining IRC, Miliband's salary as president of the group has grown to nearly a million dollars a year (up from about $ 240,000 when he joined the organization in 2013). In addition, the group has been mired in scandals since Miliband became its president. For example, in 2018 it was revealed that the IRC is one of several UK charities “whose workers [allegedly] are in a sexually exploitative relationship with refugee children,” including through the controversial “sex for food” where “sexual the violence was so endemic that the only way for many refugee families to survive was to allow the teenage girl to be exploited.” Reports also claimed that the IRC and other charities mentioned in the reportincluding Save the Children (lit. "Save the Children"; an international organization dedicated to protecting the rights of children around the world) were aware of the flagrant violence for years before these allegations were made public and did not take any action.
Myanmar refugees who crossed from Myanmar to Thailand when armed clashes broke out between Myanmar soldiers and rebels eat in the Thai-Myanmar border town of Maesot November 8, 2010. A clash broke out between ethnic minority Karen rebels and government forces in the Myanmar town of Myawadi opposite the Thai border town of Mae Sot, eyewitnesses on the Thai side of the border told Reuters. REUTERS / Chaiwat Subprasom.
In the same year, it was also discovered that the IRC had “silenced 37 allegations of sexual assault, fraud and bribery,” causing the UK government, which had previously funneled millions into the organization, to cut funding altogether. Despite these revelations, none of the IRC staff charged with the crimes have been prosecuted.
Given the fact that the IRC board and bureau are packed with professional exploiters, from Wall Street to the public sector, it is not surprising that this “charity” will be caught doing the same under the guise of “helping” the world's most vulnerable populations that they are. obviously seen as easy prey.
Foxes in the chicken coop
Several media profiles describe the biometric identification work done by iRespond in collaboration with IRC as helping to prevent exploitation of the world's most vulnerable populations, especially forced labor and sex trafficking. However, if this is the case, why is this program being carried out by iRespond, whose president and chairman has close ties to the American military and intelligence communities, and the IRC, backed by a legion of war criminals and financial predators?
The US military, close associates of iRespond's Eric Rasmussen, are notorious for their role in human trafficking for forced labor, while many of his key contractors - such as DynCorp (an American service provider worldwide that works with the US federal government) - have been the subject of numerous scandals related to sexual violence or sexual trafficking of unprotected groups of citizens of states with an unstable political situation and / or having military conflicts in their territories. On the other hand, a mixture of IRC supporters such as Madeleine Albright, who gained notoriety for her comment on the sanctioned killing of half a million Iraqi children, which she felt was “worth it,” and Henry Kissinger,known for using food as a weapon to coerce populations into submission and population decline in Third World countries. Both statements are anathema to the publicly declared goal of the iRespond-IRC biometric identification program.
Unlike the Sex for Food scandal, which was once involved by the IRC, the new initiative puts refugees in the position of participants in a large-scale technocratic experiment, because if refused, they will not have access to food and other vital services. While this is certainly not as egregious as sex crimes, it is still another way of exploiting the world's most vulnerable populations under the guise of “help,” while the real beneficiary is the technocratic elite, seeking to quickly disseminate this biometric program. identification around the world.
Whitney Webb, UNLIMITED HANGOUT, translated by Vasily Sushchikov