UNHCR to donate biometric machine to Guyana

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has procured a multi-million-dollar biometric machine to help process migrants and refugees entering Guyana.

The US$ 70,000 (G$14M) machine will be formally handed over to the government shortly, acting Head of the UNHCR Guyana Mission, Suenanica de Rozario told www.aroundtheregions.com.

Biometric instruments are identification and authentication devices. They use automated methods of verifying or recognising the identity of a living person based on a physiological or behavioral characteristics. These include fingerprints, facial images, iris and voice recognition.

The UNHCR-procured machine can scan fingerprints and eyes.

“I think that a biometric or a computerised system is always very useful for governments to have accurate data of the number of people in their country. Disaggregated data agenda is based by age and so forth and that is something that biometric system can easily do in a matter of seconds. We do think that this is indeed a system that will benefit the government and help access the data anaylitics. That is something that will definitely benefit the government,” de Rozario stressed.

She noted that along with the donation of the biometric machine their agency will also be undertaking training schemes for several immigration officers to use it.

“So, the system will be handled by the Government (of Guyana) it will be handed over to the government and they will have the final decision where they would like to implement the system,” the UNHCR official said.

The electronic device will help enhance and strengthen the immigration department’s ability to effectively monitor and track visitors entering the country.

The acting UNHCR Head said the body’s primary objective is to collaborate with the government in achieving their set agenda and goals.

“We have a very good relationship with our government counterparts and we support them as well in whatever firm and way that we can, because our aim is to work with the government to provide assistance and that is what we do and we have very positive relationships with them. So it has been positive so far,” she declared

“We want to congratulate the Government of Guyana for equable vaccination access because the sooner we can achieve herd immunity the better it would be for every one and this will allow for more social interactions, more social gatherings that will of course allow the programmes to run as planned,” de Rozario.

UNHCR was established in Guyana in 2018 and operates in three regions, viz:Barima/Waini, (Region One); Pomeroon/Supenaam (Region Two) and Cuyuni/Mazaruni (Region Seven).