Mobile Application Reconnects Refugees with Loved Ones

(HN, September 23, 2010) - In a project that will push the envelope on wireless technology in the field, Ericsson and a partnership have committed to rolling out a free and anonymous system to locate and reconnect refugee and IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) families through the innovative use of mobile phones and the internet. 

The program enables refugees to use mobile phones to register and search for loved ones via an anonymous database, and subsequently reconnect using mobile text messaging (SMS) or the Internet. The information registered may be accessed by refugees and NGOs caring for displaced people, and used to quickly put them in touch with their families.  

UN agencies and aid groups have been longing to make better use of mobile phones in the field, given the ubiquity - up to 75 percent of refugees have mobile phones - and falling costs of the devices. The partnership includes Ericsson, Refugees United, in partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and mobile operator MTN in Uganda.

António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, says: "The role of the private sector is increasingly important for humanitarian assistance. Lending their knowledge and expertise to support the refugee cause is crucial as many of these projects would otherwise be outside of our reach. Today mobile phones are everywhere.  Utilizing this readily available technology for a good cause to enable refugees to connect with and reach out to family members they have lost contact with is fundamental."

In a press conference at the Clinton Global Initiative to announce the initiative, Guterres called refugees "the most vulnerable of the vulnerable" and referred to mobile phones as "the most democratic product of modern technology I know."

The initiative started with a pilot deployment in northern Uganda at the beginning of September. The application is now being extended to other camps in Eastern Africa. In one camp, consortium members witnessed long lines of refugees waiting to sign up to the service to find missing family members. Most refugees have used a mobile phone so they feel secure, they know how it will work, and they give only information they are comfortable sharing, to reconnect.

Today more than 4,500 refugees have registered, a considerably higher number than possible with traditional methods. Refugees United also provides the service via computers and internet, but with more than five billion mobile subscriptions today the service via mobile phones is highly relevant. In Africa less than two percent of people have access to computers, compared to more than 45 percent that have a mobile phone.

Kai Uwe Ricke, Partner and Chairman of Board of Directors, Delta Partners, said that the partnership still needs considerable support - including more network operators, more funding and spreading the word about the system to refugees everywhere. "Within the next two years with this initiative there will be no reason why refugees cannot find their loved one," Ricke said.

According to UNHCR, there are over five million people of concern in East and Horn of Africa, some 14 percent of the global number of people that UNHCR assists around the world. UNHCR's main operations in this region include Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia.