'I know you like the back of my hand': biometric practices of international humanitarian organizations in humanitarian response.

Humanitarian organizations are increasingly utilizing biometric data. However, we know little about the extent and scope of this practice, as its benefits and risks have attracted all the attention so far. This paper explores the biometric practices of the UN Refugee Agency, the United Nations World Food Programme, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières, and World Vision International. The paper analyzed relevant documents published over the past two decades and 17 semi-structured interviews with humanitarian workers conducted between June 2021 and June 2022. The findings display that humanitarian organizations use diverse types and functions of biometric data for different services, collaborate with many actors, and use various data protection measures. Ultimately, challenging the straightforward generalizations about the use of such data, the paper argues that variational applications of biometrics in the humanitarian context require case-by-case analysis, as each use case will likely produce a different outcome.