On 4 – 5 October 2018, the 20th Humanitarian Congress Berlin gathered to discuss the current political trends and their implications for the most vulnerable, the people at the core of humanitarian work. The conference addressed the major issues and challenges confronting humanitarian action and explored how we can move the focus of attention back to the people and advocate for human dignity.
The session “Handling sensitive data in humanitarian action” specifically focused on data collection and analysis which has created great opportunities for humanitarian actors to deliver more effective aid to vulnerable populations. As humanitarian crises grow, so does the number of personal data sets that are being collected. This opens up serious concerns about breaches of platforms and networks, weaponisation of humanitarian data to aid attacks on vulnerable populations and exploitation of humanitarian systems.
What are the key professional and ethical dilemmas involved in the collection of data from vulnerable populations? How can we make sure that we are using data safely and ethically?
If you missed it you can watch the session here or read the recap with selected quotes and analysis on irinnews.org.