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Karisma and Privacy International’s Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
Fundación Karisma and Privacy International made a submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in response to the Call for submissions on Colombia in advance of his country visit.
Achieved result
Following our submission, the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, in his end of mission statement, highlighted Sisbén's impact on poverty and inequality. He urged that the classification methodology should not lead to automatic or immediate exclusion, particularly of vulnerable populations.
Advocacy
Post date
5th February 2025
In Colombia, the government utilises the National System for the Identification of Potential Social Program Beneficiaries, Sisbén (Sistema de Identificación de Potenciales Beneficiarios de Programas Sociales), a classification algorithm that ranks individuals by income level to determine access to social assistance programs. The implementation of this algorithm is problematic, and our submission raises the following issues:
- Sisbén is exclusionary by design. Its inefficiency in accurately identifying those in need of social services results in blocking access to the same for the most vulnerable people.
- Sisbén requires households to complete a survey. However, access to the survey, as well as access to the updating and correction of information are not guaranteed in practice, leading to poor implementation of the faulty system.
- As pointed out by the Constitutional Court of Colombia (Constitutional Court, ruling T-231-01), Sisbén does not have adequate means for beneficiaries to challenge their classification, leaving people without remedy.
In addition to supporting the recommendations from the Ombudsman's Office, we jointly proposed the following:
- Ensure transparency and independent auditability of the algorithm used to classify individuals;
- Guarantee that there are efficient and clear channels to update or correct the personal data contained in the databases;
- Guarantee the right of individuals to object to automated decision-making, and;
- Ensure the protection of the personal data of beneficiaries and prevent their exploitation by way of non-consensual data sharing.