Border-crossing stories from privacy to piracy

Hi Sparkies,

You may have noticed that I like shouting about the great journalism done all over the world in the name of change. This week I’ve got a special guest edition for you from Ariadne Papagapitos, the impact director at Lighthouse Reports. 

Lighthouse is an investigative newsroom that publishes deeply reported stories in the public interest in collaboration with media around the world. Long-time readers might recognise a few of the names on their staff list: Crofton Black was behind the exposé of CIA blacksites I wrote about a month ago, while Charles Boutaud worked on the farm exploitation stories that brought Sybil and Vadim from Sparks past to parliament. In short: I love what they do.  

Over to Ariadne!

Something is wrong when some of the world’s poorest countries are spending almost as much on biometric technology — scans of faces, fingerprints or eyes as digital proof of ID — as they are on basic services. When we began looking into the sale of these systems by multinationals in Africa, the cost of contracts was spiralling. They promised democratic and development dividends, but we wanted to understand what hundreds of millions of dollars in paper contracts actually delivered. 

Our Surveillance Newsroom investigated a series of complex deals across three countries: Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. 

In DRC, which has no civil registry or ID card system, people face extraordinary barriers to accessing services, opening bank accounts or receiving money from abroad. Consecutive governments promised to solve the problem and presented increasingly expensive biometric ID schemes as the solution. Idemia – the subject of several of our earlier biometrics stories – was involved in a staggering $1.2bn contract with the Congolese government, but all the signs suggested that the project wasn’t delivering. 

The choice, for Lighthouse, of when to investigate has to do with the potential the story holds to contribute to change. We can’t be certain that the work will create that “spark” – there is always a measure of luck involved – but we can assess its potential based on what else is happening in the world, why it matters and the advice of stakeholders. 

But with powerful global institutions like the World Bank and UN touting these biometric solutions there was only one narrative: that they’re good for democracy and development. Would we be able to demonstrate that these deals were more corporate colonialism than corporate saviourism?

A year on, we achieved some of the outcomes we aimed for. We published a breakthrough series with local partners and a major international media platform that influenced multinational corporate actors and their local business partners. The work catalysed public discussion about who really profits from the lucrative business of biometric IDs and voting systems. 

No organisation or investigation can “move the needle” alone. We build a strategy around the specific outcomes we aim to achieve with an investigation and work closely with civil society groups to make those happen. Collaborating in and outside of journalism is critical. 

On less-known topics – like the harms caused by biometrics industry corruption – that aren’t high in the public consciousness, our ability to partner effectively is everything. In the DRC, we worked closely with the country’s leading anti-corruption coalition, Congo N’est Pas à Vendre (Congo Is Not for Sale). We helped them turn our findings into a video for the public while they guided us on framing the story and followed up with an advocacy push.

Our exposure of the Idemia deal with Congolese media partner Actualite.cd and Bloomberg News was widely covered in the Congolese press and picked up by news influencers. Congo’s anti-corruption watchdog reacted publicly (Parts 1, 2, 3) and international experts on biometrics endorsed and circulated the investigation. 

The deal’s mastermind, Samba Bathily, was not pleased, going so far as to give a long interview claiming we’d coordinated a campaign against him. We were also interested to see the investigation picked up in India where a comparison was drawn between the system the DRC wanted to implement and India’s Aadhar ID system. 

But the biggest news came three days after publication, when the director general of Congo’s National Office for Population Identification announced that the Idemia deal had been annulled owing to financial irregularities. 

We’re now waiting on the results of a World Bank delegation to Congo in a few weeks. Will they continue to push tech that enriches foreign companies off the backs of regular Congolese – or will they help Congo solve its identity crisis? We’re eager to find out.…

“My name is Mustafa. I am a Kurdish Yazidi man from Afrin, Syria. I am a father of two. In August 2023, I escaped detention and torture at the hands of one of the world’s most dangerous militia, eastern Libya’s Tareq Bin Zeyad.

My family and I left Syria in search of a better life. We were in Lebanon and from there we got on a boat headed to Europe. While we were at sea, a pirate ship operated by Tareq Bin Zeyad captured our boat and forced us to the shore of eastern Libya. The militia has a long history of kidnapping, smuggling and war crimes. They’re also linked to the Russian mercenary Wagner Group. 

I was kidnapped, detained and tortured. They kept us in the harbour for a whole day, they made me wear an orange uniform, and pretended to execute me with 11 bullets. They shaved my eyebrows and my eyelashes. This torture affected me both physically and mentally. 

I spoke to the team at Lighthouse Reports about my experience. Through their investigation we found out that it was a Frontex drone that spotted our vessel. It was the European Union themselves that passed the location of my boat to the militia, probably via Malta. 

I filmed a video and sent it to the team at Lighthouse. I told them to take it to the politicians at the European Parliament. They need to know we are enslaved and tortured because of their policies. 

I am safe now. But I want you to spread my message far and wide. Salam.”

~Note from the Lighthouse team: Mustafa’s bravery in sharing his story was crucial to reporting on how the EU border agency, Frontex, is coordinating with the TBZ militia. We took Mustafa’s video to the the EU Parliament's justice and civil liberties committee hearing in May 2023 and presented his story in front of Frontex’s executive director. 

We also did a follow-up investigation where we revealed that Frontex was aware of abuse faced by people like Mustafa when captured and had even watched the militia whip, beat and shoot at passengers.~

Thanks Ariadne! I love a guest week (and not just because I get to put my feet up) – learning how another newsroom plans investigations around change makes me incredibly hopeful for the future.

Actually, I haven’t put my feet up at all – I’m on the road, writing to you from the Labour party conference in Liverpool. I’m here to advocate for press freedom and an end to SLAPP lawsuits (that’s Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation – essentially legal threats from the rich and powerful to make you shut up). After all, journalism can’t do much good in the world if a threatening legal letter stops it seeing the light of day. But never fear – next week I’ll be back in The Spark HQ.

See you soon!