Screening by International Aid Organizations Operating in the Global South: Mitigating Risks of Generosity

Aid organizations usually embrace the idea of digitalization, both in terms of using diverse technologies and processing data digitally for improving their services, making their operations more efficient and even mitigating various risks. While digital fundraising, the use of biometric ID systems or digitalized cash and voucher assistance enjoys widespread attention both in academic and practitioner circles, it is less known how aid organizations navigate between counterterrorism legislations and data protection laws in technical terms. Limiting the discussion to the EU General Data Protection Regulation and by conceptualizing screening ― commonly used to prevent the use of donor money for illicit purposes, money-laundering, terrorism finance or corruption ― as a data processing operation conducted by larger international aid organizations operating in the Global South, this book focuses on the matter of ‘transparency’ and ‘right to information’ being at the nexus ofsurveillance studies and privacy studies. By means of legal and social science methods, it simultaneously explores screening in light of classic surveillance and analyses whether opacity around screening by NGOs (data controllers) is in line with the spirit of European Union data protection regime from the perspective of individuals (data subjects).  In so doing, Paragi also contributes to the discussion on the politics of transparency and highlights the dilemmas and challenges aid organizations operating in authoritarian regimes or conflict settings may face.

Beata Paragi is Associate Professor at the Institute of Global Studies at Corvinus University of Budapest. She earned her PhD in Political Science (Multidisciplinary International Relations) in 2008, and additionally holds a MA-degree in ICT Law from the University of Oslo (2022). Her research interests and teaching focus on development and humanitarian studies, the digital dimension of aid operations, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and qualitative research methods.