Current Affairs Topics Archive
International Relations Economics Polity & Governance Environment & Ecology Science & Technology Internal Security Geography Social Issues Art & Culture Modern History

Biometric IDs are being rolled out in Africa. Study reveals the risks and pitfalls

March 03, 2026 5 min read Science & Technology Social Issues International Relations GS2 GS3
On This Page ▼

What Happened

  • A comprehensive report by the African Digital Rights Network documented the risks and pitfalls of biometric ID rollouts across ten African countries, finding that millions face exclusion from basic services due to failed enrollment.
  • Countries like Ghana (95% adult enrollment via GhanaCard) and Senegal (90%+ enrollment) show high adoption rates, while Ethiopia's Fayda-ID system has reached only about 35% of the population and the Democratic Republic of Congo still lacks a functioning digital-ID system despite legislation since 2011.
  • The study found that 8 of the 10 countries examined lack specific digital-ID legislation, leaving citizens with weak legal recourse against data misuse, surveillance, and discrimination.
  • In Kenya, members of the Somali, Nubian, and Pemba communities are routinely denied digital IDs despite generations of residence, effectively rendering them stateless and unable to access education, healthcare, voting, or social protection.
  • In Sudan and Ethiopia, governments reportedly use biometric identifiers — including surname, address, and religion — to target individuals along ethnic lines, raising concerns about surveillance-enabled discrimination at scale.

Static Topic Bridges

Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and Aadhaar — India's Model

Digital Public Infrastructure refers to shared, interoperable digital systems — such as identity, payment, and data exchange layers — built on open standards and made available to citizens and businesses as a public good. India's Aadhaar is the world's largest biometric identity system, having enrolled over 1.3 billion people using fingerprints, iris scans, and demographic data under the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

  • Aadhaar is governed by the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016.
  • The Supreme Court in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2018) declared privacy a fundamental right under Article 21 but upheld Aadhaar's core framework while striking down its mandatory use for private entities.
  • India is actively promoting its DPI stack — Aadhaar, UPI, DigiLocker — internationally through the G20 and Global South partnerships as a replicable model.
  • The World Bank, via the ID4D initiative and the Sustainable Development Goal target of "identity for all" (SDG 16.9), promotes digital ID adoption in developing countries.

Connection to this news: The African experience reveals that India's DPI export narrative must be accompanied by robust legal safeguards; countries adopting biometric systems without adequate legislation risk exclusion and state surveillance, challenges India itself continues to grapple with.

Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (DPDP Act) — India's Privacy Framework

The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (enacted August 11, 2023) is India's first comprehensive data protection law, governing the processing of digital personal data. It introduces a framework based on purpose limitation, data minimization, and consent-driven processing, defining "data fiduciaries" (entities processing data) and "data principals" (individuals).

  • Biometric data under Indian law is classified as sensitive personal information and attracts heightened protection requirements.
  • The Act establishes a Data Protection Board (DPB) as an adjudicatory body for grievance redressal.
  • The Government plans to amend the Aadhaar Act to align it with the DPDP Act, since Aadhaar currently does not permit deletion of core biometric data.
  • In 2023, a cybersecurity firm reported that biometric and personal data of approximately 81.5 crore Indians had been found for sale on the dark web — underscoring the real-world risks of large-scale biometric databases.
  • The DPDP Rules (notified in 2025 under the SARAL framework) operationalize the Act's provisions.

Connection to this news: The risk of "function creep" — where biometric databases built for welfare delivery are repurposed for surveillance — is a documented problem in Africa and a live concern in India; the DPDP Act's purpose limitation principle is the key safeguard against this.

Exclusion and the Right to Identity — Social Justice Dimensions

The right to a legal identity is recognized under Article 6 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and SDG Target 16.9. However, digital ID systems can paradoxically exclude the most vulnerable — those with physical disabilities, illiteracy, lack of device access, or belonging to marginalized ethnic communities — from the very services the systems are meant to deliver.

  • Physical conditions such as amputation, leprosy, and manual labor can degrade fingerprints to the point of preventing biometric enrollment.
  • Costs associated with digital services — data charges, smartphone requirements — create an access gap that disproportionately affects rural and low-income populations.
  • "Function creep" describes the expansion of a system's use beyond its original mandate; this has been documented in multiple African countries where ID systems built for welfare have been used for immigration enforcement or political surveillance.
  • The Universal Digital Public Infrastructure Safeguards Initiative has articulated 18 core principles for rights-based digital ID, including explicit consent requirements, independent judicial oversight, and accountability for data breaches.

Connection to this news: Africa's rollout illustrates that without legal architecture and institutional accountability, even well-intentioned ID systems become tools of exclusion — a lesson directly applicable to the ongoing debates around Aadhaar's scope and India's DPDP implementation.

Key Facts & Data

  • Ghana: ~19 million registered (approximately 95% of adults) in GhanaCard system between 2017 and 2025.
  • Ethiopia: ~28 million enrolled (approximately 35% of population) in the Fayda-ID system.
  • Senegal: ~10 million citizens with biometric national IDs (over 90% of those aged 15+); roughly 1 million remain excluded from essential services.
  • DRC: No functional digital-ID system despite legislation passed in 2011.
  • 8 of 10 African countries studied lack specific digital-ID legislation.
  • The World Bank's ID4D (Identification for Development) initiative funds digital identity projects in developing countries, citing SDG 16.9.
  • India's DPDP Act was enacted on August 11, 2023; its rules were notified in 2025.
  • The Supreme Court's Puttaswamy judgment (2018) held privacy a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution.