Safe Aid: Protecting privacy in humanitarian operations

ICRC humanitarian aid distribution © ICRC / EPFL 2023 Researchers have worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to develop a first of its kind, digital system to support humanitarian aid distribution. The design uses tokens to decentralize the storage and processing of recipients information, reducing the risk of harm, and uses advanced cryptography to enable accountability. Humanitarian organisations exist to protect and assist the victims of violence, famine and disaster. One key area of their work is the distribution of goods such as food and blankets in emergencies. Traditionally, paper-based lists have been used to support aid-distribution and, while practical, do not scale well and at times are easy to circumvent. Humanitarian organizations see digital solutions a promising way to address these issues; however, to date, these have relied on collecting significant amounts of recipient data. This may jeopardise recipient safety and can complicate the relationship of humanitarian organisations with local authorities.