The Digitization of Asylum: The Legal and Ethical Implications of AI Use within Migration Governance
Publication Date
Spring 2025
Abstract
This paper critically examines the blossoming integration of artificial intelligence (AI) within European asylum systems, demonstrating the interplay between operational efficiency and state obligations for human oversight. Case studies from Germany, the Netherlands, and Italy, where AI software, including DIAS (language recognition), Casematcher (filtered case comparisons), and S.I.N.D.A.C.A (speech-to-text transcription) reveals technology’s ability to streamline and enhance asylum processing. Imbalanced success in facilitating similar technologies across Europe questions the maturity and accuracy of existing AI implementation. Moreover, AI-guided surveillance and identification methods, including mobile phone data analysis, reflect privacy, legal, and proportionality concerns of AI deployment. Through discussion of refugee-centered technological development within the Immigration Policy-led and UNHCR-led efforts, this paper argues that while not inherently negative, it is crucial to center human lives and impact at the center of innovation. Legal frameworks are also illustrated to be foundational in protecting transparency, non-discrimination, and human rights.
Disciplines
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Recommended Citation
Somersall, Myla, "The Digitization of Asylum: The Legal and Ethical Implications of AI Use within Migration Governance" (2025). Switzerland: International Studies and Multilateral Diplomacy. 7.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/szg2/7