Iris-Scanning Technology Streamlines Refugee Registration Process

Scores of Syrians waiting to register at the newly opened UN Refugee Agency registration centre in Khalda last Thursday experienced their first iris-scanning.

The Iris Recognition Technology was recently implemented to streamline the refugee registration process and to tackle the backlog of 60,000 Syrians awaiting registrations at the Anmar Hmoud Centre for Refugee Registration and the Irbid centre.

“The iris scan was introduced because we are dealing with over half-a-million people in various locations so we needed to prevent multiple registration,” said Nihad Hota, a UNHCR registration officer at the Khalda centre.

Developed by the Jordan-based IrisGuard company, the technology uses the iris instead of fingerprints to identify a person.

“The eye is a muscle with involuntary movements; it captures the light and works as a camera lens, and if the eye is dead, it can’t react anymore, so there is no chance of fraud,”