Description
This article examines the evolution of 'ProGres': the UNHCR's digital registration and identity management solution, in operation since the early 2000s. It presents ProGres as more than a humble software system but, rather, as a vital index for understanding how technological change has complicated the task of refugee protection, while illuminating institutional innovations at the heart of UNHCR's response. Drawing on interviews with key UNHCR personnel, the paper shows how the shift from paper-based to networked- and, finally, cloud-computing systems challenged UNHCR's conventional exercise of privileges and immunities under the terms of the Vienna Convention. It then conceptualises the agency's response in terms of an emerging practice we call 'liminal data sovereignty' – capturing how UNHCR has pioneered a new refugee data protection regime through partnerships with both states and Big Tech. The paper makes significant empirical and theoretical contributions to the burgeoning literature on digital humanitarianism.
