Over the past year, our research on mapping the digital infrastructure landscape in the context of mixed migration has focused on documenting people’s lived experiences within fraught and fractured policy ecosystems. We began with the assumption that mobility contexts are diverse—ranging from regular to irregular, temporary to permanent, and spanning a spectrum between voluntary and involuntary movement. As a result, to deconstruct the role of digital infrastructure in mediating movement, we looked into specific migration corridors influenced by various drivers with the intention of studying how data collected through numerous mechanisms fed into the decision-making processes of those actors involved in migration management.

Key takeaways from Phase 1 of ‘Data on the Move

Through our research, we discovered that a range of complications arise from technology deployment in migration management. Large actors collecting data about migrants and their journeys have varying intentions, often leading to surveillance and targeting of vulnerable communities. In turn, our research has also been instrumental in uncovering the disparate and discreet nature of technology deployment, amplifying a breadth of vulnerabilities for people on the move in the process: The following instances are observations from our research across a few migratory corridors:

• Safety and surveillance as a dichotomous technology paradigm:
  During our interactions with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, we discovered how social media platforms were used to gather essential information on safe migratory routes to escape ongoing violence in Rakhine State. However, Amnesty International’s report highlighted the role of similar platforms, especially Facebook, as vehicles for vitriol, fuelling anti-Rohingya discourse in the lead up to the mass exodus of 700,000 people. Refugees have time and again used technology as a guide for safety, while subjecting themselves to involuntary arrangements that mandate sharing of sensitive personal data with state and commercial actors – a bargain that reinforces an essentially disempowering relationship people on the move share with technology.
• Digits, discrepancies and discrimination encoded in technology design:
  In the case of Nepalese labour migrants in India, we observed how institutional structures failed to accommodate migrants. India’s digital public infrastructure (DPI) stack centred around its flagship biometric ID system, Aadhaar, acts as the means through which social and economic services are provided to residents of the country. While Nepalese migrants are eligible to apply for and have received the Aadhaar ID, the incongruity between the Nepalese calendar (which is based on the Bikram Sambat system) and the prevailing Gregorian system used to record Aadhaar-linked data has produced discrepancies in recording age and date of birth. State policy objectives determine technology design of public infrastructure, and the exclusion of Nepalese migrants reflects the privileging of priorities of administrative efficiency over inclusion.
• Paradoxical protections afforded to data, often at the cost of people:
  Indian students migrating to Germany for higher education were found subject to data extraction and few avenues for contestability in a mature data governance jurisdiction. For instance, German universities began to use proctoring software to monitor students taking their exams. There were concerns about the software violating fundamental rights by processing a large amount of personal data, including identity, location, videos of movements, and the student’s room. However, for immigrant students from the Global South, individual agency is limited as raising these issues with their institutions could result in discriminatory treatment, limiting their opportunities for recourse despite a favourable policy environment.

These instances highlight how inherent power structures influence decision-making around migration management, and a lack of accountability in data governance and technological design fail to fulfil the needs of migrants, putting them at greater risk of harm and vulnerabilities. The creation of an equitable, rights-preserving migration ecosystem requires evaluating how digital infrastructure affects people on the move in various situations, and data needs to be viewed as the lever, a catalyst to coalesce migrant empowerment in ways that allow them to determine their journeys. This highlights why participation of people on the move in the design, development and deployment of digital infrastructure is essential to make technology not only accessible, but also ultimately deliver on the emancipatory impulses often guiding its integration within migration.

Planning Phase II of ‘Data on the Move’

Migration management is populated with diverse actors, from state and multilateral institutions to humanitarian organisations and private entities. These actors do not operate in a vacuum, their choices are reflected and reinforced through complex networks of data collection, policy development, funding and technology deployment. For instance, with the introduction of AI-powered tools and ongoing digitalisation of border services, the role of private technology providers and their access to sensitive data is often unclear, leading to disconcerting implications for people on the move.

In Canada, the border services agency launched the ReportIn app to track people awaiting deportations or final decisions on their immigration status. Concerns have been raised about Amazon Web Services (AWS) being enlisted as one of the technology providers for a platform that collects biometric information and contributes to existing surveillance infrastructure. These instances underscore the importance of adopting a nuanced approach to studying digital technologies in migration, by acknowledging the infrastructural capacity constructed by state, multilateral and commercial actors for data-driven decision making. Consequently, developing a framework for collective data rights to govern such infrastructure is an important first step towards securing progressive immigration policy and technology design.

To uncover these issues in greater detail, Aapti Institute is embarking on a two-year research project funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation. The project will aim to critically examine how digital infrastructure can be reimagined to empower people on the move. Creating a rights-preserving migration ecosystem through participatory data governance and technology design that is determined by lived experiences is the fulcrum guiding our efforts.

Guided by principles of autonomy, agency and self-determination for people on the move, our research will seek to chart out pathways for bottom-up governance of digital infrastructure. By examining people’s lived experiences, we aim to reflect on the complex realities of human mobility to open up critical conversations on how migrant rights can be preserved through responsive technology development. We envision the following outcomes from our research:

1. Building actionable insights for policymakers through evidence-based research on the lived experiences of migrants’ interactions with digital technologies, and identifying opportunities for bottom-up development and governance of digital infrastructure.
2. Increased collaboration between actors in the ecosystem—policymakers, multilaterals, humanitarian organisations, technology providers, academia and people on the move—to promote a balanced understanding of migration and challenge negative stereotypes.

Our levers

We hope to realise the outcomes of our work through a range of methodologies that cater to the many channels that we are utilising to disseminate and discuss the relevance of our work. These include the following:

1. Shaping Perspectives
   1. Case study research:
      Upon identifying certain migration corridors (criteria for selection listed here), we will study migrant interactions with technology, and draw out recommendations for stakeholders that are currently active within the ecosystem. This would be based on an evaluation of digital infrastructure and data governance practices in the region, and the objective would be to challenge the status quo and build pathways for bottom-up technology design and policymaking.
   2. Embedding novel migration technology vocabulary in policymaking:
      Our framework for ‘Resistance Technology,’ or ‘ResTech’ as a bottom-up approach to technology mediation and agency for people on the move can lead the way in expanding the existing thinking on bottom-up approaches for the development of digital infrastructure and participatory data governance. Our focus is on building frameworks to streamline policymaking and breaking through the siloed nature of governance for migration data and infrastructures.
2. Building solidarities
   1. Migration x Technology Community (MigTech):
      Established during the first phase of our project, MigTech is a platform that will continue to house a network of like-minded organisations and individuals who specialise in various themes and intersections of migration technology. Previously, we have held an online session to disseminate our research findings, and an in-person convening at the sidelines of the UNGA Summit of the Future in New York. Going forward, we aim to host issue-based online discussions through the year, and create a virtual convening space for conversations around migration technology, inviting participation from the wider community to share publications, event information and such.
   2. Events:
      Identifying the right spaces to embed our research is an effective medium to broaden our existing network, amplify our narratives, and receive critical feedback on our study. In the previous year, we presented our findings at Data for Policy and the UN World Data Forum, and the objective would be to widen our footprints and discover organisations that add fresh perspectives to our research and help us present our findings in newer forms.

Over the next two years, we hope to disentangle the complexities of digital infrastructure and reorient notions of migrant rights to include collective rights over data within the ambit of immigration policy. In doing so, we believe this research would be instrumental to bridging gaps between large state, multilateral and private sector actors that are at the helm of managing digital infrastructure for migration and people on the move who are reduced to passive subjects of such infrastructure. This requires examining existing models and their associated harms, and approaching these with principles that promote bottom-up involvement in data governance, technology development and policymaking.

Meaningful change requires deep collaboration across the ecosystem—bringing together policymakers, multilaterals, humanitarian organizations, technology builders, academia, and migrants themselves—to challenge harmful narratives and foster a fair, human-centred approach to migration. In this emerging field, we are eager to engage with experts from various stakeholder groups who share our curiosity and commitment. If you or someone you know works at the intersection of human mobility and digital infrastructure, we would love to exchange insights – please reach out to us at [email protected].