Iris scanners are just one component of what is becoming, in and around Syria and with remarkably little attention, the most technological humanitarian response ever.
I’m naïve enough to have believed, when I arrived recently at Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport, that the sophisticated machine in front of the passport control officer was a simple camera. In fact, it was an iris scanner, relatively new technology adopted by Jordan, the United Arab Emirates—and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. UNHCR has been using the eye-recognition devices to register refugees and provide them with basic services.