Securing Refugee Identity: A Literature Review on Blockchain-based Smart Contract

Identity documentation for refugees is a complex process and crucial for host nations. A secured identity management system ensures both security and the efficient provision of services for the host nation and the donor organizations. Realizing the benefits, a handful of studies enriched the blockchain-based security identification for refugees. The research studies presented the introductory, conceptual, and practical solution related to the blockchain-based smart contract. There is a common agreement in the studies that blockchain-based smart contract not only streamlines refugee identity verification but also safeguards against unauthorized entries. Since it is a technology as well, it has been essential to know the present status of the technology in the social context. In such a situation it becomes essential to review the existing research studies to provide insight for future studies. In this study, we reviewed current studies using a thematic approach. Our findings suggest researchers are more inclined to provide conceptual models as the models are important in advancing technology; however, the models need to be implemented for practical advances. However, the main contribution of this study is that this study gathers current efforts in smart contract-based refugee identity management. This study is important for the refugee host nations as well as for stakeholders. Knowledge gained from the study is expected to provide insight into how the technology can be developed using existing theory and implementation frameworks.